A conspiracy of heat below, cold above, and dryness throughout discourages a true forest belt from thriving in the Panamint Range, an unusual truth given its height and breadth. Instead the desert gives way to a scattered pinyon forest along mountain slopes, which in turn succumbs to a sea of sagebrush at "treeline." For winter is long here, and snow can linger into June. (It finally melted off the top of Telescope Pk a week before my arrival.)