The Great Basin Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in The White Mountains of California/Nevada have the world’s oldest living non-clonal organisms, ancient bristlecone pine trees. Non-clonal means these trees are not genetic duplicates of a parent organism, but are in fact, original organisms.
The oldest known tree in the basin is 5,065 years old and was germinated in 3051 BC. This tree started growing before the first pyramid was built-in Egypt.
Another, Methuselah, is 4,848 years old.
The White Mountains run parallel to the Sierras in the west and Death Valley in the east.
White Mountain is a sister peak to Mt. Whitney, the highest mountain in the continental US. When you hike here you look to your left at almost eye level with Mt. Whitney, and to your right at the lowest non-submerged place in North America, Death Valley.
In the dolomite covered White Mountains these ancient organisms continue to thrive in white powdery soil that was once an ancient sea bed.
When you touch the non-bark covered cambium layer of these ancient ones, it is like touching living stone. Something you have never felt before.
The bristlecones survive possibly because they live in an isolated hostile location, which makes them strong, and creates the almost impervious density of their stone-like structure.
To say that I was blown away by being here is a huge understatement.
I am hoping the lack of protection afforded the ancient ones is purposeful. They are hard to get to, even harder to hike to, and not very many people know about them. Plus, for much of the year, due to winter snow, they are inaccessible.
There is nothing here but these living fossils.
I never knew about these trees, even though I have driven near them all my life to go skiing, and now I can’t even imagine the world without them.
Cheers to you from the ancient ones~
http://www.arizona.edu/keepers-prometheus-worlds-oldest-tree
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_trees
http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=3441
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Sehr schön. Freundliche Grüße, Wolfgang
Vielen dank mein leiber Freund Wolfgang! 🌲
Amazing to see this Cindy. They reminded me of tortured players in a science fiction or horror movie. so beautiful but I let my imagination run freely.
They are! They are twisted into living circles by millenia of wicked winds. These trees send your imagination soaring~
The first tree really stirs imagination but the one on the slope of a rock face? wow! I’m impressed at how it holds on! 🙂
Some of them grow out of sold rock! I can just imagine the winds whipping up from The Sierras and Death Valley twisting these trees into these tortured, other-worldly shapes over the course of time~
It’s truly amazing what nature creates 🙂
It is and all we need to do is not destroy it.
Magnificent living sculptures.
Being with them was moving beyond belief…..
It is as if you can feel their souls in the pictures. I can only imagine what it was like to stand amongst them. Thank you for sharing.
You are a lovely person Colleen and I am so pleased to know you! <3
Great post. I went to them in the late 60s. It was a profound experience and I shall never forget it.To those trees, I was not even the blink of an eye.
Yes, it clarifies our insignificance in the scope of creation doesn’t it. I find this comforting. I am so glad you experienced them.
Wow, they are amazing! I didn’t know anything living today was so old! I would love to see and touch them. Thanks for sharing your experience 🙂
Thank you more for appreciating these precious living fossils!
Powerful and very moving Cindy. I can only imagine being around such old souls of nature. Thank you for sharing their majesty and grace 🙏
Thank you Val. They make you teary with wonder!
Merci …!!!
Vous etes les bienvenus! 🌲
I wish they cold tell us their stories. I wonder what they have seen. It makes me feel small and insignificent and that’s a good thing.
Great pictures as always.
You and I think just alike! 🌲 🌲 <3
I know and I like it. (((Cindy)))
I do too.
We had them in the Ruby Mountains of Elko County too. They are pretty amazing.
I didn’t know this. Thank you for telling me.
Eleven thousand plus feet above sea level.
It is so awesome at these heights and higher!
Imagine, these trees were alive when the Pharaohs walked the Earth, even before the Great Pyramids was built.
Always amazing stories and photos now even dazzle the mind.
Beautiful Cindy, just beautiful
They moved me beyond words. They seem to hold the secrets of time. Thank you for understanding this Eddie. <3 🌲
How spectacular, Cindy! I’ve never heard of these beautiful trees before, so thank you for educating me. So many splendid things in our world, huh?!
Yes, our natural world is phenomenally precious! 🌲
Impressive!
They are!
Fascinating Cindy – some fine art in this world! 🙂
Yep, Mother Nature is the world’s best artist!
I was absolutely blown away by this, Cindy. Beautiful images and fascinating study. I couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of reverence as I looked at those ancient trees.
It makes me feel wonderful that you feel as I do, this sense of reverance was so strong here. Thank you Don for knowing and feeling this!
Aren’t they amazing trees! I used to love going into the high sierras and coming across them. Great photos!
You are wiser than I, since it took me this long to find them. My husband deserves the full credit for this. He had been wanting to visit them for several years.
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
Incredibly ancient trees 🐵
Thank you Chris for supporting the ancient magnificent ones & cheers to you my friend~ 🌲
My pleasure Cindy 😃
<3
Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos of the Methuselah trees. They are regal and beautiful and I am glad that they are mostly protected by their location and the weather. I hope they will still be standing in another 5,000 years.
I share your hopes and your admiration of these incredible old sentinels. Thank you! 🌲
Great pics.
What amazing trees, and incredible to think they have been around for so long.
It is mind boggling isn’t it!
I loved this post, the photography … thank YOU
Awww, thank you more for the kind appreciation~ <3
There’s so much character in those old stands.
Leslie
It’s hard to come up with adjectives worthy of them isn’t it!
Old souls perhaps?
Leslie
Yep. That does it! 🌲
Wonderful nature, full of surprises. They don’t make ’em like they used to. One of your best posts I think. 🙂
Ahhh, I am honored. You are a dear friend Graham.
These ancient trees are not only fascinating but beautiful; their history is amazing, I have never heard of them before Cindy so thank you for sharing the information and awesome photos of them. Now I want to see them for myself and experience what you felt as you walked through these majestic and incredible trees!
I so hope you do visit them. It will leave a lasting impresssion. They may not be able to talk, but they communicate a sense of the sacred. I am so glad you feel about them as I do Barb~ <3 🌲
They fascinate me Cindy – I’m just checking them out on Google for more info, although nothing I have found so far compares with the information in your blog.
Awww, you are very kind my friend!
Both beautiful and amazing. I didn’t know there was a whole grove of them; I’ve only ever seen one or two, and nothing as spectacular as that first tree.
There are so many of them that it is really impossible to say which tree is actually the oldest. There could be one older than Prometheus which was cut down in the 1960’s by a misguided scientist.
That must have been a spiritual experience, Cindy! Quantum physicists have been trying to teach us that even rock is a living organism and can obviously continue to allow life in that remote and barren region. I will never hike to that area and am grateful you took such impressive photos. Thank you for sharing.
I did something I essentially have never done. There were two women hiking near us and talking loudly and absolutely non-stop about inconsequential things. As we approached the ancient grove, I asked them if we could be silent so as to fully appreciate the experience. This was rude of me, but this is a deeply spiritual place, and I couldn’t pollute the experience with idle chatter. Thank you for sensing and knowing this. I wonder why they bothered to go.🌲
There were there to shine the light for you on how truly sacred it was. Contrast makes us appreciate things more. It was not rude and I do hope they appreciated your cautioning them. 🙂 Maybe they could finally get a bit of that as well.
“Contrast makes us appreciate things more.” This is true isn’t it. I never thought of this before. Contrast and difference do shine a light and certainly make us pay more attention. Thank you for this interpretation.
Reblogged this on ravenhawks' magazine and commented:
These are beautiful testaments to nature and it’s ability to endure. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for caring about the ancient ones. 🌲
Magnificent trees!! Oh the stories they could tell 😊❤️
You do get some sense of this listening to their silence!
I took the liberty of sharing this on Facebook. This just blows me away to think how old these trees are. Humans only live for a 100 years or so…
I know. They are absolutely amazing and thank you very much for caring about them!
That is amazing. As I was reading, I want to touch the trees. I am glad you did and described what you felt. I completely understand your felling seeing/touching the oldest living things there.
Just an incredible experience that still gives me goosebumps…..I hope you go and touch them yourself my friend!
I am completely gobsmacked. To think that something so old could still be alive? Incredible, and utterly beautiful in its own way. Thank you!
It amazes that I didn’t know about these trees for most of my life. Seeing them felt like a miraculous surprise. Gobsmacked is exactly the right word and is still just how we feel. Thank you for understanding this! 🌲 <3
-hugs-
🌳 🌳
Reblogged this on Meeka's Mind and commented:
The world truly is full of wonders and these thousands [yes – MULTIPLE thousands] of year old trees are amazing. They make our technological world and everything in it feel…irrelevant.
We really have no idea how old the oldest tree might be because as you mention there is a forest of them and it is difficult to guess age by appearance alone. We know how old the oldest “known” tree is, but the forest still retains her mystery and this is wonderous beyond words. I am grateful that you feel about them as I do.
To be honest, I had no idea that something so wonderful still existed in our rush, rush, technological world. Those trees are like something out of a fairytale.
I never knew of these either. They’re magnificent, both the story and their appearance. Great photos, Cindy. (Do you ever get tired of hearing that)?
I just get humbled and grateful to know wonderful people like you. <3
🙂
These are amazing. I did not know of them either.
There is no good excuse for me since I have driven by their turn off hundreds of times. Maybe their existance is not heavily publicized which is probably a good thing.
I’ll say. I think it must be awe inspiring and a little eerie to be among living things that old.
Yes. I was fascinated to learn later of the legendary curse that has reportedly afflicted the scientists who have cut into these trees. Reminds me of the curse of The Pharoahs tombs!
https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2013/06/25/22/09/rose-141314_960_720.jpg
“A rose by any other name……”
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/da/e8/47/dae84720e09f3d4267f6b94d66dfe194.jpg
Thank you~
Reblogged this on penpowersong.
Gratitude to you for caring about the forest~ <3
These are amazing trees, Cindy! I am fascinated about the soil.
It’s basically ancient decomposed sea bed that was uplifted when the teutonic plates scraped against each other raising the sea bed to 14K+ feet. It’s alkaline and harsh for things to grow in. These trees seem to survive for millenia because their environment is so harsh, which is fascinating to ponder isn’t it!
I would gladly exist in their presence.
Yes. Exactly. With no noise. Only their silent sentience.
Perfect.
🌳
I wonder how those trees keep track of birthdays. Thanks so much for sharing something so special x Rowena
I think they maybe they might celebrate and we don’t notice! Thinking about what trees may do when bugs chew their leaves, makes me wonder about the alleged curse that befell the scientists who cut into the ancient ones! Moral to this story, don’t mess with 5000 years old trees that are looking forward to their next birthday! Check out:
http://www.wired.com/2013/12/secret-language-of-plants/
Thanks so much for putting me onto this, Cindy. That was fascinating. Just confirms how finely tuned our ec0systems are! xx Rowena
Our world paradigm keeps shifting with new information! It’s great~ 🌳
Just beautiful. The first photo is amazing and there’s one that looks like a lizard. Wonderful trees.
I saw him too!
https://secure.static.tumblr.com/838ebcd739ee14e27cf4941a297d2bc1/bvivgob/8vbnto5nk/tumblr_static_lg33r5b6v0g0c4sgksk0ws44_640_v2.gif
It is hard to imagine anything growing for such a long time. I’ve never heard of Methuselah grove.
Yes, the same for me. I don’t know how I missed this driving by all these years. I am just glad my husband directed me here!
unbelievable that something like this still exists on Earth proving once again that life finds away for every living organism.
It is wonderous and magical isn’t it! Something remaining unscathed by time for this long.
Amazing how old they are! It’s probably good that they are hard to reach and relatively unknown.
Yes, I think so too. It takes effort to get here so hopefully only people who care will bother to make the trip.
Cindy, your posts are always beautiful and informative. Thanks!
Awww, thank you my friend and visa versa 2UX2! 🌳 🌳
Love how gnarly these trees are! It’s interesting about the ancient sea bed because the Methuselah look like driftwood to me, only much larger, stronger, and hardier. I really must get myself out there to experience the tactile sensation for myself. Thanks Cindy for this amazing bit about life that’s been around longer than much of what we can even remember! <3
They do look like driftwood don’t they! When they die, because they are so impervious and tough they often remain standing like sculptures. There is a sculpture garden of dead trees that is visually striking. I do hope you go Lynn and hug a tree, or three, for me! 🌳 🌳 🌳
Stunning! I’d heard of them, and a long time ago seen a couple of black and white pictures of them. It must have been amazing to see them in real life. I hope they remain hidden, or some idiot might chop them down for firewood.
Alison
Or cover them in grafitti art, or carve their initials in them, and steal a branch for their mantle. What really amazes me is that no human has destroyed them yet, although a scientist did cut down the oldest recorded one. It is really amazing that these trees have survived human destruction for so long.It is probably because they are inconvenient to get to.
And may they stay that way!
Amen! 🌳
Extraordinary, how lucky you are to have seen them and captured their gnarly beautiful strangeness. I adore tree photography. 🙂
“Gnarly beautiful strangeness.” This is a perfect description of them! 🌳 🌳
🙂
Grossartige Aufnahmen ! Herzlichen Dank Ernst.
Ich bin sehr erfreut, Ihnen die Baume Ernst mogen und gut sein, mein lieber Freund! 🌳
Simply ‘artreestic’ and I’m absolutely ‘treeilled’!!!! ✧٩(•́⌄•́๑)و ✧
🌳🌳✧٩(•́⌄•́๑)و ✧🌳🌳
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
Vielen Dank fur die Sorge um die Baume! 🌳🌳
Wir danken Ihnen! LG
Incredible photos of these fab trees, Cindy, thank you.
So very pleased you like them too! 🌳🌳