These bristlecones live in remote terrain at 10,000 feet elevation along the California/Nevada border; reaching and exploring their habitat takes most of one day. Walking among them propels you toward an ethereal realm of experience heightened by the thin atmosphere, which loosens dreaming. A few of the trees have been alive since the building of the Giza Pyramids some 4,500 years ago.

Without knowing the great age of these beings, you would still feel something unusual on this mountain, a break with mediocre concerns. Hikers tread as if on fragile ground, and a profound silence deadens their chatter. The sense of deep time swallows human language and most other cognitive operations of the mind.