Bristlecone Loop Trail

Bristlecone Loop Trail Difficulty: Easy Total Distance: 1.0 miles (1.6 km) Elevation change: 200 feet (61 m) Average time: 1-2 hours This trail may be inaccessible during mid-winter due to snow depths ranging from 2-15 ft (0.7-5 m). The Bristlecone Loop reaches elevations over 9,100 feet (2778 m). Here you will pass by bristlecone pines up to 1,600 years old and on clear days experience vistas over 100 miles (171 km) across the Grand Staircase geologic area. The majority of the forest here is dominated by White Fir and Douglas Fir, making this good habitat for grouse, woodpeckers, owls, and a variety of squirrels and chipmunks. Many of these animals use dead and burned trees (such as those burned in the 2018 Riggs and Lonely fires) for habitat. A trail guide with map and information is available in your newspaper Visitor Guide. More about the trail Nature Bristlecone Pines Note that bristlecone pines share dolomitic limestones with some of the park's most delicate plants. Stay on the trail and help us to protect them. Though Bryce Canyon is well known for its geology, the park also contains a fantastic diversity of trees. Among the most impressive of these is the Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva). These trees are known for thriving where few other plants can, and for far longer too. Look for bristlecone pines on exposures of dolomitic limestone. These areas of white to grey stone are found in the park's hoodoo-forming Claron formation as low as the Queen's Garden and Fairyland Loop trails and as high as this trail. Dolomitic limestone is high in calcium and magnesium, and low in phosphorus. This chemistry is difficult for other plants to tolerate, giving the bristlecone pine plenty of room to grow as slowly as it likes. You'll also typically find higher-elevation bristlecones growing at the edges of cliffs, where competition is even further reduced. Free to take its time, bristlecones pines can grow as slowly as an inch (2.5 cm) per century if conditions are challenging. This gives these trees incredibly dense heartwood, which is capable of providing structural support to the tree long after a section of limb or trunk has lost its life-protecting bark. The oldest tree at Bryce Canyon was estimated to be 1,600 years old, though trees across its range into Nevada and California have been dated at over 5,000 years old, giving Pinus longaeva the honor of being the longest living non-clonal species on Earth. You can identify a Bristlecone pine by its densely bundled needles of five (making it a white pine). Unlike many other pines that shed their needles every few years, bristlecone pines can retain needles for up to forty years. Their 1.5 in (1.2 cm) long needles remain vibrant and green for typically a full 12 inches (30 cm) along the branch. This appearance is often compared to that of a bottlebrush or pipe cleaner. Like the limber pine (another white pine found at Bryce Canyon) seeds of the bristlecone pine may be harvested and dispers