Two Foxtail Pines & Kaweah Peaks Ridge

---

Sequoia National Park, Tulare County
late morning Wednesday July 13, 1994 slide 94C_12-33
Olympus OM-4T, Benbo Trekker
Drum scanned 35mm Kodachrome 64 to 100mb RGB file
Adobe Photoshop 6.0 processed for accurate image fidelity
Lightjet5000 printed on Fuji Crystal Archive paper
signature bottom mid left

---

On the Great Western Divide at an elevation well above 11,000 feet, two magnificent wind shaped sentinels stand watch over a lonely alpine bench. Foxtail pines, pinus balfouriana, live at high elevations of the southern Sierra on exposed dry rocky slopes. Closely related to the bristlecone pine of the Great Basin, they also share a tendency to grow into gnarly stunted forms at windswept locales. Note the non-living bare strip of trunk on the right side of the large tree at left. And a living strip of bark on the left side of that tree. At the tree top, pointed wind scoured bare branches like that of a buck deer provide a magnificent crown. Below one such branch is a lone shadowed pinecone. The tree at right shows a long windswept crown. Below on its trunk, reddish brown bark is furrowed into small plates. The foxtail name comes from the long pine needle covered branch ends that look much like that of bristlecone pines.

The small short tree at left is an example of a "flagged" tree. Without a robust trunk, small young branches that stick up above the winter snow level get broken off by storm winds. Note three small patches of yet melted winter snow on the distant peak below the lowest bare branch. The surviving narrow diameter vertical branch remains short with its branches oriented away from the usual storm wind direction. A number of stunted branches crowd the base.

Also a small leafy plant hides against the rock just left of the base. At the base on each side of the large foxtail at right are two old short stunted trees with prostrate branches. Foxtails may live to old ages well over a thousand years though not as old as their cousins. Foreground left lays a weather worn trunk of a large ancestor. The linear wear lines sport several dark knotholes where branches once projected. Wood of these trees often contains considerable dense pitch helping preserve such trunks for centuries.

Behind in the distance rises ancient metavolcanic, Kaweah Peaks Ridge near the center of the Sequoia National Park backcountry. 13,640+ foot Black Kaweah is at left and rusty 13,802 foot Mount Kaweah right. All rock below the trees is granite with course granite sand in the foreground. At the frame's right edge a few small clouds pass over the Mount Whitney region.

On a backpack out of Mineral King, we searched about Great Western Divide ridges for picturesque foxtail pines. The finest specimens I've ever seen. Will another human hand ever touch the wood of these lonely life forms?

Crop at 100% print size:

   David Senesac
   email: sales@davidsenesac.com

return to home page