At length the roots decay and the forlorn gray trunks are blown down during some storm and piled one upon another, encumbering the ground until, dry and seasoned, they are consumed by another fire and leave the ground ready for a fresh crop.
In sheltered lake-hollows, on beds of alluvium, this pine varies so far from the common form that frequently it could be taken for a distinct species, growing in damp sods like grasses from forty to eighty feet high, bending all together to the breeze and whirling in eddying gusts more lively than any other tree in the woods.

I frequently found specimens fifty feet high less than five inches in diameter.

Being so slender and at the same time clad with leafy boughs, it is often bent and weighed down to the ground when laden with soft snow; thus forming fine ornamental arches, many of them to last until the melting of the snow in the spring.
The Mountain Pine The Mountain Pine (Pinus monticola) is the noblest tree of the alpine zone--hardy and long-lived towering grandly above its companions and becoming stronger and more imposing just where other species begin to crouch and disappear.

At its best it is usually about ninety feet high and five or six feet in diameter, though you may find specimens here and there considerably larger than this.

It is as massive and suggestive of enduring strength as an oak.