This gnarly tree "reaching for the stars" is an ancient bristlecone pine growing in the White Mountains of Eastern California at elevation of over 10,000ft (3200m).
These trees are the oldest living non-clonal organisms in the world and some of them have been dated to be nearly 5,000 years old. That means they have been alive when the pyramids were being built in Egypt! Conditions in these remote mountains are very harsh, with cold temperatures, a short growing season, high winds, and barren soil. And yet bristlecone pines thrive in these conditions and attain their great age not in spite of their harsh environment, but because of it - the pines grow very slowly which makes their wood very dense and resistant to insects, disease, and erosion.
Here's another tree in a nearby grove. If you're not sure what's happening in this photo - this is a result of letting my camera take photos continuously for 3 hours, capturing the apparent movement of the stars due to Earth's rotation. When facing north the stars appear to be circling around the North Star.
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