Along the Mount Evans Highway (Colorado), the Mount Goliath Natural Area is an interesting place to visit. Besides lots of wildflower species, there is a wonderful area that contains some Bristlecone Pines, the oldest living thing on earth. I have read that the Bristlecone Pines on Mount Evans are approx. 1,700 years old (and some in California are approx. 3,000 years old)! Although there are some stands of live bristlecone pines in the Mount Goliath area, I concentrated on the dead trees as they had wonderful colors and textures in the wood:
Some more interesting facts about the Bristle Cone Pines:
- Needles on the bristlecone pine can live for 20-30 years. Thus, adding new foliage to a tree takes very little energy. The long-lived needles provide a stable photosynthetic capacity to sustain the tree over years of severe stress.
- Bristlecone pines can remain standing for hundreds of years after they die. They usually fall because the roots finally decay, or because of soil erosion.
- These beauties are very stable and hardy … and such a wonderful sight to see!
Photographic Equipment Used:
- Canon 5D Mark 3 body
- Canon EF28mm-135mm, f/3.5-5.6 IS lens
- Bogen 3221 tripod with Graff Studioball SB-QR ballhead
- ISO 400
- Aperture f/16 (all photos)
- Shutter 1/6 sec. to 1/20 sec. (base exposure setting)
- All 3 images are in-camera HDR images (using “Art Vivid” mode) of 3 photos per final image (shot at 0.0 EV, -1.0 EV, +1.0 EV)