Javin Elliff Photography

May 22, 2024

Road Trip - Bristlecone Pines

A few years ago I read a book titled American Canopy: Trees, Forests and the Making of a Nation by Eric Rutkow. It opens with the story of a tree named Prometheus, a bristlecone pine which was cut down in 1964 by a graduate student in an effort to determine the tree's age. It turned out to be nearly 5,000 years old! Bristlecone pine trees are thus one of the oldest living non-clonal [1] species in the world. I had never heard this and would have guessed redwoods or sequoias to own that title. Surprisingly, these trees live in harsh environments above 10,000 feet in elevation.

I knew I had to witness these trees for myself, and planned my road trip accordingly. I drove from Nevada to the White Mountains of eastern California, and arrived to the Methuselah grove of bristlecone pines late in the afternoon.

A sunburst between the branches of an ancient bristlecone pine tree.
A grove of old bristlecone pine trees in the White Mountains of California.
Long roots lead to a partially living ancient bristlecone pine.
Giant twisted trunks of ancient bristlecone pine trees in the White Mountains of California.
Contorted trunk and branches of an ancient bristlecone pine tree.
A giant, contorted trunk of an ancient tree in the bristlecone pine forest of the White Mountains.
Late evening sun above the Sierra Nevada range in eastern California.

Sunset over the Sierra Nevada range.

In the morning, I returned and hiked the same trail one more time to see it with different light.

A closeup photo of the needles of a bristlecone pine tree.
A grove of bristlecone pine trees in the White Mountains of California.
A bristlecone pine clings precariously to a cliff.
Two ancient bristlecone pine trees in the Schulman Grove of the White Mountains in California.
Thick needles on a young bristlecone pine.

  1. Non-clonal means each tree is a distinct organism. Some trees (such as aspen) grow new stalks from an underground network of roots and are therefore considered clonal. A grove of aspens can be considered a single organism, and one such colony in Utah is estimated to be 80,000 years old. ↩︎