Wednesday, 30 August 2017
More trees: The star attraction of Great Basin National Park in Nevada are the bristlecone pines -- the oldest living organisms on earth.
More trees: The star attraction of Great Basin National Park in Nevada are the bristlecone pines -- the oldest living organisms on earth.
 |
| To get to the most easily accessible grove of bristlecone pines, you have to take a short (1.5 mile, 600 ft climb) hike from the Bristlecone-Alpine Lakes trailhead. |
 |
| The trail is mostly rocks and affords spectacular views. |
 |
| Bristlecone pines along the trail. |
 |
| This bristlecone pine is dead, but most are still alive and are 3000 to 4000+ years old. |
 |
| Some people think bristlecone pines are grotesque and belong in a Dr Seuss book, ... |
 |
| ... but I think they are fascinatingly beautiful. |
 |
| Left: A close-up of a branch shows why the trees are sometimes called “bottlebrush” pines. Center: An immature cone shows the namesake bristles. Right: Sap oozing over a mature cone |
 |
| The Visitor Center in Baker, NV, has a “tree cookie” from “Prometheus”, a bristlecone pine that was cut down in the early 1960s (details are contested) that was later determined to be about 5000 years old, and the oldest (formerly) living organism on earth. |
No comments:
Post a Comment