Bristlecone Pine National Preserve

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Bristlecone Pine National Preserve lies in the White Mountain Range between Eastern California and Western Nevada. From Big Pine, a charming small town on California State Highway 395, you follow Highway 168 East to the Preserve turnoff. A very windy narrow road leads up to the 9 mile rutted washboarded gravel road to Patriarch Grove at 11,000 feet altitude. You can see the harsh environment in which they exist. It appears that the harsher the environment, the longer lived the species.

bristlecone pines Big Pine ancient ones 11 000 foot altitude Patriarch Grove White Mountains Eastern California