The Limber Pine / Pinus flexilis

Another interesting high elevation tree that you usually can't see without strapping on a pack and hiking to where they grow. This was filmed in the Bristlecone Pine forest in the White Mountains in California. This was at the 10,000 foot elevation where the only trees growing were Bristlecone and Limber Pines.

[@gdot9046]

You gotta make more of these for all the trees. Super helpful. I wanna be you when I grow up.

[@brianpowell5082]

Another nice tree shout-out!! Keep it up with these awesome tree videos! I owe my sanity to being able to hike and see the trees!! I love the Limber Pines. The Limber Pine is quite common along the ridge from west of Mt. Hawkins to Mt. Baden-Powell in the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County above 8,400' here in Southern California. Elsewhere in Southern California, they are also found in the high reaches of San Gorgonio Wilderness and near the Sugarloaf Mountain/Onyx Peak area in the San Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto Wilderness, and Toro Peak in the Santa Rosa Mtns in Riverside County. There is even an outlier population near Mt. Pinos and Sawmill Mountain in N. Ventura/S. Kern Counties! The ones that are exposed at high altitudes there are also gnarled and twisted, but the ones mixed in with Lodgepole Pines can be taller (maybe 60'-70') and narrower at times! They can make nice, sometimes nearly "formal" forest trees at lower and less exposed sites!

[@ApeMan]

Thanks for watching Brian. I see you share my passion for the amazing trees in the California mountains.

[@brianpowell5082]

Of course! I love our native trees and shrubs. You should check out my videos. I make videos about my peak hikes and make a Spotlight on Trees series myself!

[@robynandmissy]

thanks again for another informative video! Love the tree series!

[@ApeMan]

These are among my favorite videos to make but not many people watch them. Thanks for watching!

[@CR-di1lg]

Going through your pine videos - another good find. I find it interesting also to see how the same tree can look quite different. Saw some interesting shapes in Norway this summer and brought back a couple of small trees I hope will survive in my garden here in Copenhagen.

[@ApeMan]

I hope to visit in Norway in a couple of years. Any suggestions for a 2 week trip?

[@CR-di1lg]

@@ApeMan We drove up from Copenhagen through Sweden and stayed 2 hours outside of Bergen in an old hut in the area around Heran and Jondal with friends from Norway and from there there was an endless amount of trekking to do. The variety of conifers is not as great as California but huge difference in how they look and grow depending on where you find them and the vegetation at higher elevation is really special. We were all over the area and everywhere was amazing. The pine by the hut were especially beautiful. They have almost no soil, little summer, lots of wind and they never get very big and end up looking like small bonsai in the most amazing shapes.

[@oscarflip8561]

Nice video! I liked the bit about the range moving higher and further north thanks to Clark’s nutcrackers. I live in SE Wyoming and I’ve never heard them called Rocky Mountain pine, we all call them Limber pines around here too. The main difference here in southern Wyoming is that they typically don’t grow up at tree line here or at subalpine levels. They commonly grow in the montane areas between 7,000-9,000 feet, in forests with Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, and aspens, but they also will grow at what is considered low elevation in Wyoming of about 5,000 feet, where the only other conifer that commonly grows in the same situations is ponderosa pines, usually just as long as the soil substrate is acidic like when granite is the bedrock (Rocky Mountain juniper sometimes will too if there’s shade and little extra moisture from where snow banks accumulate).

[@ApeMan]

Very interesting! Thanks for that great info!