The Bristlecone Pine Raintree - Exceptional Trees on Waymarking.com

Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) is a coniferous (cone-bearing) tree with short, roundish needles in bundles of 5 that radiate in all directions from the twigs. The needles are crowded into bottle-brushes at the ends of the branches. The cones are sappy, prickly, cylindrical, and about 4-inches long.

In Nevada, Great Basin Bristlecone Pine is the dominant component of the montane vegetation in the Spring and Sheep mountains in the Hudsonian (Bristlecone Forest) life zone.

This old tree has stood here proudly for some 3,000 years. However, with so many visitors, it is starting to show signs of human use. Please do not climb on the tree, camp beneath the tree, or even spend too much time standing beneath the tree. We are causing dirt around the roots to erode away, and just walking around the tree compacts the soil so that rain water can't infiltrate like it used to.

Trail Guide Getting to the Trailhead
The trailhead is located up in the Spring Mountains on Deer Creek Road between Kyle and Lee Canyons, about 1 hour northwest of Las Vegas.
From town, drive north on Highway 95 to Highway 157 (Kyle Canyon Road). Turn left onto Highway 157 and drive west for 17.1 miles to Highway 158 (Deer Creek Road), which is just past the Mt. Charleston Hotel. Turn right onto Highway 158 and drive north for another 4.8 miles to the second turnout past Hilltop Campground. Watch for a paved parking area on the west (left) side of the road with a large sign. Park here; this is the trailhead

Genus/Species: Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) Height: 40 Girth: 16 Method of obtaining height: Reliable source Method of obtaining girth: Arm reaching Location type: Other public property Age: 3000 Historical significance: This Bristlecone Pine is thought to be the largest and oldest (some 3,000 years) tree in the Spring Mountains. Factoid: The oldest known tree is "Methuselah", which is 4,789 years old. To keep Methuselah from harm, this tree isn't labeled, as the other trees are. An older tree called Prometheus was killed shortly after it was discovered in 1964. This happened when a geologist searching for evidence of Ice Age glaciers was taking some core samples from several bristlecones. Just as he realized he had found a tree over 4,000 years old, his coring tool broke. Amazingly the U.S. Forest Service gave him permission to cut down the tree. Prometheus turned out to be 4,950 years old. It was a 300 year old tree when the pyramids were being built in Egypt. After people heard about this incident, the U.S. Forest Service tightened security around the bristlecones. Website reference: [Web Link] Parking coordinates: N 36° 18.533 W 011° 36.710 Walk time: 120 Planter: Not listed Photograpy coordinates: Not Listed

Visit Instructions:
A closeup picture of your GPS receiver in your hand, with the tree in the background, is required. If the tree is on private property, this closeup photograph with the tree in the background may be taken from the nearest public vantage point without actually going to the tree.
The required photograph does not need to show the entire tree, but the individual tree must be recognizable.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   08/09/2009 MillerDude visited it