Jeffry Pine

This Jeffrey Pine is alleged to be the world's most photographed tree. It sits alone atop Sentinel Dome in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. This tree is a fairly easy 1.5 mile hike from the trailhead at Sentinel Dome. However, since these photographs were taken in the mid 1970's, the tree has died, Nevertheless, the remaining tree can still be seen, and the view from the top of Sentinel Dome is well worth the short hike. However, take your time. The elevation is about 9,500 feet.

Thus, the ten photographs below constitute a record of how this famous jeffrey pine looked under various weather conditions and different times of day.

No one knows the immediate cause of this tree's death. One ranger told me the tree was about 400 years old. The miracle, he said, was twofold: first, that it had been able to take root in this windswept spot void of any apparently significant source of nurture; second, that it had survived as long as it did.

See the dark cloud above the tree that adds a bit of drama to the scene? An afternoon thunderstorm has suddenly approached behind me and is almost overhead. I'm exposed on this granite dome at 9,500 feet in T shirt and shorts and; unfortunately, the approaching the thunder and lightening are at about the same elevation. If I don't get off this dome soon, I run the risk of being coated by freezing rain or getting zapped.

The flowers in the foreground are a variety of Indian paintbrush. Jeffrey pines grow at mid-elevations in the Sierras, usually from 6,000 to 9,000 feet. They are a hardy tree with a stout trunk.

The wind atop the bare, exposed crown of Sentinel Dome can blow with great force. The limbs of this pine, as a result, are twisted like corkscrews into fantastic, spiraling shapes.

In the photo above and the one below you can see highlights on the jeffrey pine. That's ice. I arrived one day after a freezing rain and the tree was sheathed in a glistening coat of ice.

The bark of the jeffrey pine has a vanilla odor. Also, the pine contains a peculiar petroleum based chemical. In 1867, a turpentine distiller on Dogtown Ridge in Butte County, California was credited with this discovery. Instead of using the customary pitch from the ponderosa pine, he charged his still with pitch from the jeffrey pine; and, in the middle of the operation, his still exploded.

Finally, three sunset photos.

Note: I shot all photographs on Kodak Kodachrome film between 1975 and 1978 using Nikon cameras and various Nikon lenses ranging from a 24mm wide angle to a small 110 telephoto. I scanned the slides into my computer using a Nikon CoolScan IV scanner. The color in the scanned images was rebalanced to approximate the slides using Adobe Photoshop 6.1, and the images were made web-ready using Adobe ImageReady 3.0. Hope you have enjoyed them.

Note: jeffrey, not jeffery, is really the correct spelling for this tree's name.