Great Basin National Park

While driving back from the Northern California Geology Field Trip Class, I finally made it to a place I have long sought to visit. Great Basin National Park is on the eastern edge of Nevada and quite out of the way from any major or even small city. The tiny hamlet of Baker, NV sits at the base of the park, but there is not much else even close by. Ely, NV is an hour west and Delta, UT is a few hours east. The siren call of this remote wilderness is the unique biological wonder of bristlecone pines on Mt. Wheeler. I have visited the other major stand of bristlecones in the White Mountains east of the Sierra Nevadas in Cali and discussed those in an earlier post on here because they are the coolest trees ever. I'm not a big plant person, preferring rocks to most vegetation, but bristlecones are the oldest known living individual organisms (as opposed to colonies or clones) in the world. And these trees live in some of the most inhospitable environments in the world, growing at and above treeline in remote great basin locales. The Methuselah Tree is over 4,400 years old; it's location kept secret by park officials to prevent defacement. To read more click the title of this post to go to the park website. Enjoy the pics, all of which are copyrighted A. Keller 2011.