My previous blog post discussed the Ancient Bristlecone pines in the White Mountains of California. The same type of Bristlecone pines also grow in Utah, though they don’t reach the same age as the ones in the White Mountains or in Great Basin National Park. Utah’s Bristlecones only seem to reach about 1,700 years old, still pretty old in my book. Although they don’t grow as old, they are still quite photogenic, nonetheless.
They can be found in a number of places in Utah, but two places where they are common include Cedar Breaks National Monument and Bryce Canyon National Park. It is interesting that soils in both of these locations derive their brilliant orange color from sediments washed into the ancient Lake Claron about 50 million years ago.
Bryce Canyon
In Bryce Canyon, you can find Bristlecones along the Fairyland Loop Trail and the Bristlecone Loop trail. Some photos I took of them back in 2015 are shown below.
A more recent photo in Bryce Canyon of a Bristlecone, titled “Tiptoe Tree Bryce Sunrise, is for sale on my website. The photo was taken at sunrise when the colors in the canyon are spectacular.
Cedar Breaks
Some of the best Bristlecone pines in Utah are in Cedar Breaks National Monument. You can find them along the South Rim trail (sometimes called Ramparts trail) as well as other locations throughout the monument and even outside in the same area.
The South Rim trail is a 2-mile one way hike starting at the visitor center at about 10,300 ft elevation and descending down to 9,800 ft. It is steep in spots. The return trip is another 2 miles going uphill. The elevation change does not sound so bad, but at 10,000 feet, it can be tough.
This trail takes you to Spectra Point and Ramparts Overlook. The oldest tree in Cedar Breaks, about 1,700 years old, is located at Spectra Point. Below are photos of trees along this trail.
The Twisted Forest
This must be the best name of all time. This forest is really in the same area as Cedar Breaks, but outside the boundaries of the monument. It is a larger field of sparsely growing Bristlecones. Below are some photos from here.
Two of my photos from the Twisted Forest are for sale on my website. The first, a backlit scene of a dead Bristlecone, is “Among the Ancients.”
The second is “Nightfall on Twisted Forest.” The story behind “Nightfall” is quite interesting. The original idea was to photograph the Milky Way on a moonless night, and I did take several Milky Way shots that night. But it turned out the best shot was my first.
It was sometime after sunset but before it was quite dark enough to see the Milky Way with the naked eye. But the camera could see it with a 6-second exposure. I really liked the composition of the faint trail leading to the bottom of the Milky Way and up into the sky.
The title I gave it is a twist, no pun intended, on the music “Nightfall on Bald Mountain” written by Mussorgsky and brought to life in Disney’s Fantasia. A twisted forest sounds spooky, especially at night. And with that, I bid you goodnight.
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