After University of California, Davis, forest ecologist Hugh Safford stumbled upon California’s highest tree, a Jeffrey pine, in the High Sierra in 2024, he vowed to return. He wanted to learn more about what this unlikely species is doing in the Sierra Nevada’s highest places, and how it got there. 

This summer, he and a team of UC Davis researchers hiked more than 240 miles and climbed 24 peaks in search of high-elevation Jeffrey pines and what their presence may reveal about our warming planet. 

A UC Davis storyteller accompanied them for four days, documenting their journey through writing, photos, audio, videos and watercolor sketches. The resulting feature story, “An Extreme Tree Hunt in the Sierra Nevada,” reveals the lengths some scientists will go to understand the wonders and changes of the natural world.

“If you want to understand what’s happening with climate change, you have to look at our Earth’s extremes — the poles and the mountains,” Safford said. “The subalpine forest is one of the leading edges of climate change.”

Sounds of the journey, from the crunch of the trail to the caw of the Clark’s nutcracker bird, come to life in the UC Davis Unfold podcast episode “Climbing to Extremes.” The story is part of UC Davis’ immersive In Focus feature series.