The Old Veteran – Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, California

This is the Old Veteran Cypress tree on the North Shore Trail of the Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. The Old Veteran hunkers down on a cliff top, its trunk bleached nearly white, roots groping the air, branches splayed by the wind. If Van Gogh had painted a Monterey cypress, this is what you’d get. From the tree’s girth, you’d guess it’s 200 to 300 years old – but who really knows? Whatever its age, it adds gravitas to the already spellbinding landscape of Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, three miles south of Carmel.