Bristlecone Pines

Bristlecone pines are the oldest living trees in the world. Tree-ring cores have dated one specimen to an amazing 4700 years old! Battered and twisted into bizarre shapes by the extreme climate of the high mountain ranges they inhabit, these slow-growing trees often appear to be more dead than alive.

These bristlecones were photographed in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, located at an elevation of 10,000 feet in the White Mountains of Eastern California. More information may be found at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine web page.