Day 12: Great Basin

And just like that, Utah was over. Next stop Redwoods, but Great Basin National Park in Nevada was essentially on the way, so we gave ourselves an afternoon driving break.

We didn't really know what to expect from Great Basin, but what we found was a hidden gem. Great Basin is home to the oldest living things in the world--Bristlecone Pine trees. Some of these trees are upwards of 4000-5000 years old. 

Some numbers to put this scale into perspective:

There has been life on this planet for ~2.5-3 million years. Let's go with 3.

If a bristlecone pine is 3000 years old, it has lived for 0.1% of the time life has existed on earth.

If you're 30 years old, you have lived for 1% of the time that tree has existed on earth. 

Trying to comprehend numbers on such a scale reminded us of a fun article on the scaling of time that you can check out here.

New place, new time

We climbed 4000 feet in elevation in 10 miles on our drive through the park

And dropped about 20 degrees in temperature

A cool adaptation of the Bristlecone pine--its roots are localized to sections of the tree, so if one segment of root dies, so does part of the tree, rather than the whole thing. This creates trees that look like this, walking the line between alive and dead.

These pines are named thus for the bristles on their pinecones (shocker I know)

They grow where almost nothing else thrives

Their slow, dense growth results in wood that is impervious to rot, so many of these trees remain standing long after they're dead