Touching the Rainbow, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

In the Patriarch Grove, abode of some of the oldest living things, the Bristlecone Pines, the weather was wild with sun, rain, hail, and a rainbow. These ancient Bristlecone Pines are located in the White Mountains near the California-Nevada border, across Owens Valley from the Sierra Nevada, at an altitude of between 10,000 and 12,000 feet. It’s hard for me not to approach these trees with an attitude of reverence.

Related story: Seeking Methuselah, a story about the ancient Bristlecone Pines when I visited on a road trip in 2005; my Bristlecone Pine set on Flickr.