The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is high in the White Mountains in Inyo County east of the Sierra Nevada.. The Great Basin Bristlecone Pine - Pinus longaeva forest plant community is growing between 9,800-foot and 11,000-foot above sea level, in xeric alpine conditions, protected within the Inyo National Forest. Defying the harshest climate, the Bristlecone Pine thrives in a location hostile to life. Growing extremely slow due to the lack of nutrients and water, some trees are nearly 5,000 years old. Wind twists the wood into alien shapes that seem to scream at you. Most trees still stand hundreds of years after dying, as sentinels overlooking the valley to the west.

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