The White Mountains outside of Bishop are home to the oldest living, non-clonal organisms on Earth. They are the Bristlecone Pines. On the mountain are two groves, Schulman and Patriarch, where many of these trees can be viewed while you walk the NFS trails between them. Between the groves (13 miles apart), there are other small groves and individuals. They are all protected.
I call this one "the Sentinel," as it stands on a side ridge that the dirt mountain road passes through. To the right and below (out of frame) is the Schulman Grove, which hides the "Methuselah Tree," the oldest, and up to the left (out of frame) is the Patriarch Grove. All of these trees are elders. Many of the individual trees that live in this forest are over 4,000 years old. The older ones are at least 1,000 years older than any other species on Earth. They are about 2,000 years older than the nearby Giant Sequoia, which are the world's biggest trees.
I'd seen this tree on previous trips, and on this last one, I purposefully parked and walked the 1/4 mile to access it. I arrived with direct sun upon it and could see that waiting would prove worthwhile, so I sat. Neither of us said much. 20-30 minutes later, the final touch of sunlight left the landscape. The bark glowed from the reflected light of a few clouds behind me. Click! Resolving the image on my computer did not take much. A little exposure reduction on the distance sky, a slight bit of contrast added to the whole scene and tweaking of levels in Photoshop (blacks at 0, mid-tones to 92 and highlights to 247).
When I seek wisdom and mentorship, I might just turn to these trees.
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