[Image]  I've been spending a lot of time with bristlecones lately, and it's been wonderful. There is something so magical about these jewels of the high country, and in fact they have inspired a new writing project (to be revealed at a future date).

When I saw the bristlecone in the photo above, I had to keep coming back to photograph it. I walked around it several times, took photos from many angles, slept under it for part of the night, and took night-time photos of it under the Milky Way. There was something just so special about it.

As I reflected on that particular tree, I felt like I knew it, in a famous sort of way, like when you see a person and you feel that you know them even though it's the first time you've ever seen them.

Slowly it came to me. This bristlecone was famous. I had seen it before. Many times before. This was the bristlecone featured on the Great Basin quarter!
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What a brush with celebrity!