Wow!!! Really beautiful pictures, Naturegirl! So much brighter than mine....and that snow is such a nice touch!

The cone in question is a Jeffrey Pine cone, I believe. They look like a shorter version of Ponderosa. I grabbed a couple of cones from the tree in the parking area.

The small conifer in question is a Sierra Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis). I noticed that many of the young plants and seedlings had a glaucous coloration. I wonder if the pale color on the young plants helps prevent sunburn?

Hey, I recognize that pine...! ;-)

Superb!

Ditto to Jeffrey Pine cone (actually larger than Ponderosa cones, not shorter!) and Sierra Juniper.

Resin

Yep! Very nice.
Did you collect cones for fun?

Dax

"Ditto to Jeffrey Pine cone (actually larger than Ponderosa cones, not shorter!) and Sierra Juniper."
- Thanks, Resin! Sorry about that terribly unclear sentence ;)
What I meant to say was that the Jeffrey Pine tree looks like a shorter version of the Ponderosa...(shorter, at least, than some of the lower elevation trees near my house). As can be seen in Naturegirl's pic #3, Jeffrey Pines can be quite tall, indeed!

Josh

Thanks, I'm glad to have photos as memories of a fun afternoon. Yes, Dax, I collected 4 large cones in a parking lot and managed to get them in my airline luggage. I also have unknown cones from my daughter's yard. You'll get a chance at ID's soon. I loved the cones of sugar pine spotted later in my vacation the most. They were in a National Park so I left them alone. Hard to do, but I thought I'd see more somewhere else that I could grab guilt free. Never saw any more :( I do have pics of them, tho...watch for giant sequoia and coast redwood pictures in the next few days with a few sugar pines thrown in for extra fun.

The conifers look great with those rocks, thanks for the tour!