“The President” is one of those trees. The giant sequoia stands 247 feet tall, measures 45,000 cubic feet in volume, and is an estimated 3,200 years old.

The trunk is 27 feet wide and the his mighty branches hold 2 billion needles, the most of any tree on the planet.

On top of that, he still adds one cubic meter of wood per year – making him one of the fastest growing trees in the world.

Giant sequoias exist in only one place, where The President and smaller trees that make up his “House” and “Senate”, reside.On the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas in California, at 5000-8000 ft above sea level.

Until now, the tree had never been photographed in its entirety.A team of photographers from National Geographic worked with scientists from the park to be the first.

It took an intricate set of pulleys and levers to scale the tree, which some argue is the largest in the world (taking width into account).

After 32 days and stitching together 126 separate photos, we are left with this breathtaking portrait of The President.

Absolutely incredible. To see how it was done, check out this video:

(source)