The Old Patriarch Tree of Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA

© George Sanker/Minden Picture

A tree amid the Tetons

This limber pine standing alone in the sage brush flats has a name—Old Patriarch. A favourite subject of nature photographers in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park (Western United States), Old Patriarch is thought to be more than a thousand years old. The 'Cathedral Group' of the Teton Mountains forms a breathtaking backdrop, bursting up from the valley floor below and stretching dramatically to the soaring peaks. The national park spreads out below the spires for 310,000 acres, creating a home for extraordinary wildlife, pristine lakes, and alpine terrain. Sounds like the Old Patriarch has found quite a home for himself.