Bristlecone Pines

Bristlecone Pine grows at a very high elevation (12,500 feet) in very specific soil and growing conditions. Unlike most other pines, these trees grow high enough to avoid glaciation effects so some of these trees are over 4,000 years old. One is 4,600 years old. I haven't seen the oldest tree yet, but I have seen the largest Bristlecone Pine in the world. I will find the oldest next summer. Enjoy. They are amazing trees. I really enjoyed walking through the ancient forest taking these pictures. It is a quiet sacred place. I was moved and blessed by spending time there. Gods angels are there in the forest. You should all experience this place. I was the only human in the forest. It was a special time with nature. I will never forget it.

The largest Bristlecone Pine in the world.

Just a cool Bristlecone Pine tree

The reason these trees seem dwarfed is because they survive in high wind conditions on the top of mountains. Since the wind is so high, it is difficult for the dropping seeds to take hold because the wind blows them away. There is a bird that has a symbiotic relationship with the tree called the Clarks Nutcracker that harvests the pine cone seeds, digs a hole in the ground and burys the nuts for later consumption in the winter.
How does that help the tree? Well, the bird has a 70% memory effeciency. Nature is so cool!



The wood is beautiful.

A big storm blew this tree over centuries ago. It still has one root in the ground and one living branch. Even though it is lying on the ground, it is still holding on to life. Even trees want to survive. Life lesson here is: "Never give up".



Climate Change

These ancient Bristlecone Pines died when the tree line moved down the mountain. Today with the climate changing, the tree line is moving back up with new growth back up into the old tree line.



More evidence.

Cool Trees

Giant Sequoias

Lodgepole Pine

Insence Cedar

Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine

Jeffrey Pine

Insence Cedar

Critters

Black Bear

Muletail Deer

Raven

OK OK... here is another deer picture for you.

Death Valley

I arrived in Death Valley just a few hours before sunset. I hiked a few miles up the Golden Canyon to try to capture the deep setting sun colors on the red and yellow rocks. This is a panorama photo of Red Cathedral rocks.

Sunset in Death Valley

9000 square miles of desert minerals sheds into this low level basin. You can see many of the minerals here.



Mount Whitney Hike

Mount Whitney at Sunrise.

Yeah, I had big plans of hiking the highest point in the lower 48. I had been hiking all summer to as high as 13,000 feet and as long as 15 miles in one day. I was now ready to hit the big one...Mount Whitney 14,491 feet. Two days before my scheduled assent, I got sick. I couldn't believe it. I made the trip anyway, just in case I started to feel better. I didn't. I got worse. I went through the process of acquiring my permit and driving to the trailhead portal. I hiked up the trail for a while to just check my strength and endurance. It was not good at all. I was too weak from my illness. I arrived at the portal a day early to acclement to the altitude so I just hung out for the day to see if my health would improve. Bummer. I felt terrible. I decided to about the hike. Mount Whitney is nothing to play around with. I need all of my horse power to attempt Whitney. 66% of the people who attempt Whitney fail even when they are healthy. I certainly didn't want to get up there and get into trouble, so instead of hiking to the highest point, I decided to hike to the lowest point in the lower 48 states...Badwater Death Valley.

Since Mount Whitney is the tallest mountain, it receives the rising suns light first of all of the mountains.

These are the walls around the Whitney portal. It's rather intimidating to look up and know that is where you have to go.

This looks high above the valley doesn't it? If you said "Yes"...wrong. It is just the starting point to Mount Whitney.

Here I am a day prior to my scheduled hike to Mount Whitney. I am hydrating myself and acclementing to the altitude. I'm sitting next to a creek reading about how to pack light and hoping to get healthy. It didn't work. Shortly after this picture was taken I decided to head for Death Valley.



Tenaya Peak Hike

There is no trail to Tenaya Peak. My plan was to hike cross country and climb this peak. I climbed about half way up and got snookered below a large rock ledge. I almost got into trouble. I was able to slowly work my way safely down. When I summit a mountain top I usually yell "Yahoo!". Today I yelled "Yahoo!" when I reached the bottom. I will try again from another approach.

This is the near verticle wall I worked my way up and down. eeeeeek! :-0



Yosemitescapes

Tenaya Lake and Tenaya Peak

Quarter Domes, Sub-Dome and Half Dome at sun set.

Clouds Rest and Half Dome at sun set.

Mount Florence - 12,500 feet

Just an interesting picture in Yosemite

Clouds Rest and Half Dome

Half Dome at sunset.

Sunset over the coastal mountain range as viewed from Yosemite

View of the Sierra Nevadas from the east side at about 12,500 feet. There is a lot of smoke in the air in the valley but one range is peaking out the top. The snow on the mountains are ancient glaciers.

Sunset Talk Video

One of my favorite tasks as a Ranger is to perform Sunset Ranger Talks at Glacier Point. Most every evening about 30 minutes before sundown one of us Rangers will do a talk about the subject of our choice. Glacier Point is a very popular location for visitors to come view a sunset because of the points open views and close proximity to Half Dome. At any given night, there can be between 200 and 600 people sitting on the rocks to view sunset. It's fun to stand among them and converse with them. My entire talk is too long to place on this blog so I have included just my 7 minute introduction. Enjoy. View the full talk here.

My Ranger Duties

Me during on of my nature hikes on Sentinel Dome.

McGurk Meadow hike talking about a trail blaze on this tree.

I love Spain.

I love Sweden.

I love Brazil.

This 86 year old lady from Brazil had difficulty pulling the inclines to access Glacier Point so I offered her a Ranger powered wheel chair. I gave her a personal 30 minute one on one Ranger tour of the point. I think I learned more from her than she learned from me. She told me about her trip to the Amazon. We had fun. I like my job.

I love Japan