Above: After dark with Lonely Bristlecone Pine

Dead Horse Overlook, Utah

It’s 3:30 AM on February 23rd, with the temperature a brisk 15°F on the night of a New Moon. I’m in a remote corner of Utah, perched on the edge of a 2000 foot cliff at 6000 feet overlooking Dead Horse Basin. The sky above is a breathtaking tapestry, stars scattered like millions of snowflakes across the vastness of space. The silence is….deafening.

Alone in the cold, my fingers stiff from the chill, I set up my tripod, preparing to capture the enduring solitude of an ancient Pine, hundreds of years old, standing resilient at the cliff’s edge. I am feeling very small yet profoundly connected to the universe. With 2 trillion galaxies in the observable cosmos, this solitary snapshot becomes a humble reminder of the vastness around us.