There is a peculiar tree and located right in the middle of Interstate 80, between Cheyenne and Laramie, in southeast Wyoming. The tree actually is a limber pine, which is common to the area, but this one seems to be growing out of a solid granite boulder. You will observe upon closer inspection, that it’s really growing out of a crack in the rock, owing to which the tree is stunted and twisted but is still going strong.
This trivial tree has spellbound the travelers since the first train rolled past on the Union Pacific Railroad. It is believed that the builders of the original railroad diverted the tracks somewhat to pass by the tree as they laid rails across the Sherman Mountains in 1867-69. The train used to stop here while the locomotive firemen “gave the tree a drink” from their water buckets.
The railroad moved numerous miles to the South in 1901 and the abandoned grade became a wagon road. Then in 1913, the old Lincoln Highway came by the Tree Rock, and by the 1920′s, the Lincoln Highway gave way to U.S. Highway 30. Lastly, in the 1960′s, Interstate 80 was built, and Tree Rock has assured a large audience for years to come.
The tree in the rock is now surrounded by a spiky fence to keep it, and a little parking area is close for travelers to stop and take pictures. No one knows exactly how old the tree is, but Limber Pines tee can live as long as 2000 years.
Limber pine (Pinus flexilis) in late Proterozoic is approximately 2000 years old at Sherman granite.
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