The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is a protected area high in the White Mountains in Inyo County in eastern California. Protected within the Inyo National Forest, the Bristlecone Pine Forest is home to the oldest trees in the world, bristlecone pines. The bristlecone pine trees grow between 9,800 and 11,000 feet above sea level, in xeric alpine conditions. Some of these living trees exceed 4000 years of age and exhibit spectacular growth forms of twisted and beautifully colored wood.
There are many small reservoirs in the hills of central Arizona, but Watson Lake is perhaps the most unusual and photogenic, as most of the shoreline and the surroundings are formed of huge, rounded granite boulders, some of which are semi-submerged forming tiny islands or narrow promontories. Contrasting with the blue-grey waters and the brownish rocks are the emerald green leaves of aspen trees, found scattered amongst the boulders. Watson Lake is one of two reservoirs at the Granite Dells, in Prescott, Arizona, that was formed in the early 1900s when the Chino Valley Irrigation District built a dam on Granite Creek