Friday, December 21, 2018

First Stars in the Bristlecone Forest

















So many things I love in California and right at the top of the list are the magnificent and mesmerizing Bristlecone Pines.  Bristlecones are among the longest-lived species on Earth.  The oldest individual is over 4,500 years of age.  The trees do very well where most other plants cannot even grow, such as in the high elevations of the White Mountains in California.  This particular tree is in the Patriarch Grove which resides at an elevation of about 11,000 feet.  The Patriarch Grove contains the world's largest Bristlecone Pine (not the tree pictured here).  

I love spending time in this area.  When I've been here it's always been very peaceful and quiet.  On this trip I specifically went here to photograph the trees at night.  I arrived in time for sunset but there weren't any clouds at all so I didn't capture very dramatic photographs as the sun as going down.  However that meant once the stars would come out I would have a terrific view of the night sky!  While I was waiting for the sky to get dark enough for the stars to show up, I wandered the grove and made a few images as day turned to night.  The image you see here is my favorite taken during that time period.  

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