Trees that time itself is afraid of: the oldest of the Bristlecone pines is more than 4.7 thousand years old

Getting into the forest of these ancient durable pines, you realize how negligibly short human life is. Bristlecone pines (bristlecone pine) are the most ancient trees of our planet. The age of these unique plants is greater than the age of any living organism on Earth.

Do you remember the legendary 700-year-old oak tree under which the Zaporozhye Cossacks wrote a letter to the Turkish Sultan? It would seem that a real giant and a long-lived man. Although compared to the Bristlecone pines that grow in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in California, our oak is a real youngster. The age of American trees seems fantastic. The youngest of them are millennials, and the age of the old–timers is more than 4 thousand years! These trees are the same age as the pyramids of Cheops and cuneiform clay tablets in Northern Syria.

Bristlecone pine trees form the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest National Park, in this reserve the most ancient trees of our planet grow.

The oldest tree was named Methuselah (its age is 4723 years) in honor of one of the biblical forefathers, the oldest person whose age is indicated in the Bible. He lived 969 years and became famous for the fact that his prayers had miraculous power: they prevented the beginning of the Universal Flood. So the legendary pine tree has become a kind of symbol of eternal life-affirming power. The forest service does not advertise the location of the tree (and it does not have any identification marks) in order to prevent possible acts of vandalism. However, every tree seen here can be safely called a natural attraction.

You can visit the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest park from May to November, thousands of tourists and photographers come here from all over the world to capture these giants – witnesses of history. By the way, the world learned about long-lived trees thanks to the expeditions of Edmund Shulman only in the second half of the twentieth century. The first pine, the age of which was established and amounted to fifteen hundred years, was called the Pine of the Patriarchs. Later, many trees whose age is measured in millennia were discovered on White Mountain in California.

It is noteworthy that all these fantastic trees grow at an altitude of 3000 m, there is practically no moisture and unsuitable soil, but nature has ordered in such a way that the world record holders have survived here!