Pando, The Trembling Giant: Aspen Grove
The world’s largest, living single organism is located in Fishlake National Forest in Utah. This 106 acre, 80,000 year old Aspen clone consists of genetically identical Aspen shoots. Even tho all of the trees of Pando are genetically identical, they all have their own characteristics. I would not have known the Aspen Grove was only a single organism by just looking at it.
Pando, The Trembling Giant grows on both sides of State Highway 25 near Fish Lake. We stopped and enjoyed the forest of aspens on our way from Salt Lake City headed down to Moab. That was about 3 hours south for us and a nice break on our drive to Arches NP. It’s actually only 35 minutes from Torrey, but our itinerary included Capitol Reef NP and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in that area, and we wanted to experience Pando while we had time. We did not want to take a chance on being busy and missing it.
Since we were in Utah in July visiting the Mighty 5, the leaves of the Quaking Aspens in the Pando colony weren’t changing to the glorious gold color yet. It was still a beautiful site, as I can imagine it is anytime of year. The bark of aspens reminds me of birch trees, even though it doesn’t peel. It does have the black horizontal marks on the tall slender white trunks though.
It is amazing to think about one seed and one tree had these genetically identical shoots from it’s roots and now it’s grown into this entire Quaking Aspen clone of well over 100 acres, living on both sides of the road. The sad part is that Pando has begun to die and shrink. Each individual tree only has a life span of about 130 years so the colony depends on generating shoots to thrive. Unfortunately, the mule deer and even cattle have been eating the young shoots and preventing Pando from replenishing itself. Thankfully, the Forest Service and other partners have fenced off sections to protect the young shoots and it’s working.
We found a little area beside SH 25 to pull over so we could walk around the Quaking Aspen grove. We discovered a plant that must be a related species to our Texas Bluebonnets. The flowers were a little less prominent, but still very pretty. We played around with some antler looking limbs and basically just took it all in and took photos.
There are lots of rocks at the base of the trees and we were able to set up our phone on a tripod and get some pics of all 4 of us travelers together. Side note: Somewhere along the way to the Mighty 5, we started calling ourselves the Mighty 4 and came up with a hashtag. So, you can search #Mighty4DoesTheMighty5 for more photos. We were also able to lay our phones on the ground to get the treetops in the sky shot.
Pando, The Trembling Giant is a worthy stop if you are in this area of Utah. You may even want to camp here. You are very close to Fish Lake here too. Enjoy!
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About Us
We are Bud and Debbie Lilly, two travel lovers from Texas. Spending an enormous amount of time researching each location to find the best places to eat, sites to see and things to do is actually something I love to do. Not for everyone, I know. But, we are blogging our experiences to let you know what you can expect in each location and so you don’t have to redo the research. Let us know if you go on any of the same trips and if you find places that impress you. We would love to hear from you!
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How fascinating! I’ve not heard of this clone grove of trees.
I had not heard of Pando either until we were headed to Utah!
So cool and interesting! I’d never heard of this before. Just beautiful!
Can’t believe how old it is! Needs to keep going!
What a beautiful place! I would love to visit!
Hopefully the leaves will be turning when you go!!
What a great story. It’s unbelievable that from one seed, all of these Aspens came to life.
One organism being so connected and massive is mind blowing. And the longevity!!
It’s so interesting, right! Nature at its finest!
Yes Barbara, for sure!
I found this so interesting! I’d not heard of this prior.
Isn’t it cool, Suzan?!
You are very inspiring. We are almost empty-nesters again. One came back home but he is on his way out again. We can’t wait to have our home to ourselves again. I would love to visit Aspen Grove. It is beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Sabrina! We absolutely love to travel and share our experiences seeing God’s beautiful creations!! If we can inspire others or let them know what to expect, that’s an added bonus!!
Definitely a MUST SEE! We got to snowmobile through Aspen trees in Colorado, which turned out to be an EPIC adventure.
Thank you for sharing your fabulous adventure!
That sounds amazing Erin!!
I absolutely love Aspen trees and I had no idea there was this area in Utah. I live next door in beautiful Colorado and the aspen trees here are gorgeous during this Fall season coming up!
I can get lost in staring at the Aspen leaves like being spell bound watching the leaves move in the sun light or just in a light breeze. You reminded me to go look at my own outside. Thank you for sharing this and reminding me of the beauty I get to have near me 💜
Yes Denise you are blessed!! We went to CO at the end of September a couple of years ago. The Aspens were already a beautiful gold and danced in the wind. It was gorgeous!!
How have I never heard of this? Another reason to visit Utah!
I had not either until I started my research for this trip. Pretty cool!
I live aspens, and when I’m in Salt Lake it is so amazing the beauty and color, depending on what time of the year! A lot of our aspens in AZ were burned in forest fires the last few years so I’m always happy to go see them!
Oh that’s awful! The fires are so destructive!! Yes, Aspens just make you happy-with the shimmering leaf sounds and the glorious golden color changes!!