Great Basin Bristlecone Grove

The trees

The Wheeler Bristlecone Grove is in Great Basin National Park. The National Park Service says the trees there are around 4,000 years old. Its Prometheus page adds that bristlecone pines can live to be over 5,000 years old. An older bristlecone in the same area was dated at 5,065 years old in 2012, according to the park. The park says there is a good chance that older bristlecone pines have not yet been dated.

Prometheus

The grove is also where one of the best-known tree losses in science happened. In summer 1964, geographer Donald R. Currey, who was studying ice age glaciology near Wheeler Peak, had permission from the Forest Service to have a bristlecone called Prometheus cut down. Counting showed 4,862 growth rings. Because some years produced no ring, the park estimates the tree was about 4,900 years old. The park says accounts differ on why it was cut. One says his increment borer broke off in the tree. Others say he did not know how to core a tree that large, that the borer was too short, or that he wanted a full cross section. The page concludes, “We may never know the true story of what happened to Prometheus.” The park says the stump is all that remains of the tree within the grove. The Great Basin Visitor Center displays a slab from the tree.

Visiting today

The Bristlecone Trailhead is at mile 12, the end of the paved Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive. The drive is about 12 miles long and climbs from roughly 6,700 feet to over 10,000 feet. It is reached from Highway 488, just inside the park entrance. Vehicles over 24 feet cannot go past Upper Lehman Creek Campground. The park says the road ends at the trailhead “when fully open” and lists winter avalanches as a hazard. It gives no closure dates here, so check current road conditions with the park.

The trail to the grove is 2.8 miles round trip with 600 feet of climbing. It starts at 9,890 feet. The park rates it moderate and says to allow 1.5 to 3 hours. It begins in forest and eventually crosses a talus slope, where the park advises watching your footing. An interpretive loop with signs about the bristlecones is at the end of the trail. The park lists altitude sickness and afternoon thunderstorms as risks and says to turn back if symptoms appear or storm clouds build.

There is no drinking water on the scenic drive. The Bristlecone Trailhead has pit toilets with no running water, and the park advises bringing about one gallon of water per person per day. Pets are not allowed on park trails, though trained service animals are. The park asks visitors to park only in designated spaces.

The park fee page says an entrance pass is not required. Lehman Caves tours and developed campgrounds charge separately.