Yosemite landmark falls / Sentinel Dome's oft-photographed Jeffrey pine topples
Yosemite's famous Jeffrey pine on Sentinel Dome -- whose poetic beauty and unique, wind-swept formation made it one of the most photographed trees in the park, if not the world -- has crashed down.
The gnarled tree, photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1867 and later made famous by Ansel Adams, had stood dead since a severe drought in 1977. It finally fell sometime last week, most likely between Aug. 9 and 11, after a series of severe storms, said Yosemite spokeswoman Deb Schweizer.
"It just gave," said Raye Santos, Yosemite's park photographer and spokeswoman, who hiked the two-mile trail up to the granite dome to see the fallen tree for herself. "I've been able to photograph this tree in all stages of its life. It was a poetic experience for me as a photographer to witness the beauty of this tree."
Eric Antebi, a spokesman for the Sierra Club, called the Jeffrey pine "probably one of the most photographed trees ever."
"If you think about the generations of families and visitors to Yosemite who've taken pictures next to this tree, with the dramatic backdrop, it really speaks to why people fall in love with places," Antebi said. "It would be hard to look at that, and the surrounding view, without being touched."
Part of the appeal of the Jeffrey pine, many say, was its improbable location. It grew atop a solid granite dome, seemingly without soil, on the second highest point (8,122 feet) on the rim of Yosemite Valley. Park rangers say the tree, which was up to 400 years old and stood nearly 12 feet tall, probably grew there after an errant seed dropped by a bird managed to take root through a crack in the granite.
Carleton Watkins, whose early photographs of Yosemite taken in the 1860s helped inspire the movement to protect the area from development, used glass plates to photograph the Jeffrey pine in 1867. Watkins then erected a tent darkroom -- pitched to the tree itself -- and developed the photos atop Sentinel Dome.
The vista was a favorite spot as early as the turn of the century, and visitors clad in tuxedos and formal gowns often dined there at sunset, Santos said.
Ansel Adams took his most famous photograph of the tree in 1940.
During a severe drought in 1976 and 1977, park rangers and visitors tried to save the tree by carrying buckets of water to it, Schweizer said, but they were unable to save it. Still, after it died, it remained a park icon, its wind-battered shape all the more striking as it shed its needles.
The tree has now fallen, but park officials will leave it where it is, and visitors can continue to photograph it. And while Santos and Antebi say it is simply part of the natural process for it to be gone, they can't help but feel a bit saddened that the Yosemite landmark has fallen.
'THINGS WERE MORE QUIET'
"For those of us who live crazy, hectic lives, stepping into a place like Yosemite does take you back to a place where things were more quiet," Antebi said. "You are stepping into a place that is ruled by a much greater sense of time. That particular tree makes that point very clear because it is so weathered. It was up against the wind, and so shaped by the wind. It mirrors geologic time."