I was interested to see you told the basic story of the Prometheus bristlecone tree in Great Basin National Park, Nevada. There is a bit of local story that one might find interesting. The forest service sawyer who "sectioned" the tree died of heart attack on his return back down from the cirque in which the tree was growing. He complained of heartburn due to his wife's spicey spaghetti sauce. The date of approximately 5,000 years was achieved by counting tree's nearly microscopic rings from the center but there is speculation that the original center of the tree had actually eroded away (not unheard of in this species when it grows exposed to the abrasive load of grit and snow carried in the winds)leaving the dendrochronologists to estimate the date conservatively. It is a beautiful place, Great Basin in general and Wheeler Peak's glacial cirque in particular. Summers are cool there up above the basin, and the crowds associated with westeren parks in the summer are very rare. Well worth the visit.