Our favorite activity for special occasions is to go for a hike. On our 45th anniversary last weekend, we hiked on Cedar Mountain near where we live. At the crest, where it was still a cool morning at 10,000 ft. elevation, we followed a trail out to a small but magnificent bristlecone pine grove.

Bristlecone pines are thought to reach an age far beyond any other living organism, up to about 4,500 years. For this reason, one approaches one of these great trees with awe and not a little awareness of one's own insignificance. They grow in scattered subalpine areas at high altitudes in the western U. S. You could watch grass grow and see the equivalent of a tennis match compared to the slow, slow growth of one of these behemoths.

The terminal branches have a unique bottle brush appearance. We arrived at the trail's end and stared open-mouthed at the incredible specimens there. Somewhere in California is the oldest living bristlecone pine which was estimated in 1957 to be 4,789 years old at that time.
It is a sad sign of the times we live in that the U. S. Forest Service refuses to divulge the exact location of this tree -- named Methuselah -- to protect it from the scourge of vandalism. Most trees only have to fear the dreaded pine bark beetle; this tree is at grave risk from 21st Century idiots.