This past weekend, we had the most amazing camping/hiking trip ever. Specifically 6 hours north to the jaw-droppingly beautiful region of California’s Sierra Nevada, a stone’s throw away from the legendary Yosemite.
The Ancient Bristle-cone Pine
In spite of being rained and hailed on during our hike, what we encountered there was to me the epitome of tree heaven. And heaven perhaps it was, a living cemetery of strange and ancient pines- simultaneously dead and alive, its departed limbs twisted into grotesque and other-wordly forms seen nowhere else.
The trip was so extensive I couldn’t possibly show all of the breath-taking wonders we saw, so this will only be Part 1. Sit back, grab a hot cup of tea and be prepared to enter an enchanted land.
many shapes, click to zoom in
playground
These are the world’s oldest known living beings, almost 5000 years old. Just pause and ponder on that.
And can you see a painted triptych? I have so many painting ideas just from this one weekend trip!
textures
Can you see the owl?
The severely twisted tree trunks and limbs were worn and smooth and textured, like a beautifully carved table or wooden sculpture. They are no longer alive. Only a few inches of bark and leaves reveal the tree’s seemingly fragile thread to the living.
otherwordly
unimaginable tree spaces. click to zoom in.
Trees always fascinated me, as a child they were places where fairies and magical creatures hid and where you could climb up to strange worlds upon their treetops. To walk amongst these ancients recall those youthful imaginings and made me realize that literary fantasies do not hold a candle to what the natural world can reveal!
a closer look- an ancient bristlecone tree, the miniature moss world, reeds
sunset over the campsite
Can you imagine what it was like being there?? Next up in Part 2, strange rocks, glorious lakes and the seeping in of a vivid fall…