Twister Sierra Juniper

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Mokelumne Wilderness, Toyabe National Forest, Alpine County
early morning Tuesday July 15, 1997, slide 97C_3-4
Olympus OM-4T, 24mm Zuiko, 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 in tree branch shadows

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My landscape photography often entails considerable exploration, hiking and climbing up and down mountainous terrain with a rather hefty daypack while searching for subjects. As such it can be quite an exertion. For locations in the backcountry as this tree, I usually need to backpack into such areas in order to get close to subjects when light is good early and late. Backpacking is much more strenuous than day hiking as I not only carry the usual equipment of backpackers but the weighty camera equipment. On this particular morning, I rambled about quite a bit in an area with many junipers whereupon I happened on this impressive specimen.

The sierra juniper, juniperus occidentalis, is a California conifer closely related to the more common western juniper of the Great Basin. Trees are typically short and squat 10 to 25 feet tall though some in favorable environments may reach 65 feet. Elevations are 7,500 to 10,500 feet with its favored habitat south facing monolithic rock where it tends to occupy cracks in the bedrock. Such conditions are often found in the Sierra where glaciers have scoured canyons leaving large bright areas of smooth granite bedrock. This tree however is on another favorite, volcanic rock, which here is of Pliocene epoch age being just a few million years old. Rather young geology. Colorful small volcanic stones can be seen on the bare ground in front of the trunk. Also note the small lichen coated knob above the branches at left.

A small outcrop of the volcanic bedrock which this tree has likely enjoyed twisting its roots around in order to improve its tenacious grip necessary to exist on harsh exposed sites.

Though this is not a particularly tall tree, it is the most aesthetic of twisted shapes of any I've yet come across. The tendency of trunks to twist is rather common not only with juniper but also pines. The tree is east of the Sierra Crest in the Silver Creek drainage tributary to the East Fork of the Carson River facing somewhat south above an elevation of 8,500 feet. Junipers have a thick brownish red shredding bark seen here covering linear sections of the trunk. Other strips of trunk show bare white wood, on non-living parts of the tree. Junipers have overlapping scale like green leaves which oddly overlap branchlets. Its bluish black berries are to 1/3 inch diameter ripening in fall whence the tree becomes a late season food source for several animals. In fact chipmunks, marmots, and other rodents frequently dig holes right under the base of these trees. In this foreground lower left is a common plant on such dry well drained volcanic soil, big sagebrush, artemisia tridentata. The light green plants just right are jewel flower, streptanthus tortuosus. Also against the right side of the twisted branch at right is a pink spot of a mint family wildflower, pennyroyal, monardella odoratissima, which has an even stronger smell than the sagebrush.

Crop at 100% print size:

   David Senesac
   email: sales@davidsenesac.com

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