The Patriarch tree, GTNP

[Ben Egbert]

Jim was hoping to go to the Patriarch Tree when we met at Grand Teton NP last September. It did not fit the schedule and in any event, having been there did not think it worth the bushwhack. But here is an image and I will let you judge for yourself.

You need to find a place to park on the main inner park road and near the North turn off to Jenny Lake. You will need a GPS to find it and the coordinates are.

Patriarch Trail Head
N 43.78759 W 110.70566

Patriarch Tree
N 43.78339 W 110.69757

Its about 1/2 mile across sage brush and no visible trail. The ground rises and falls and the tree is on a down slope so it does not come into view until you get fairly close.

If you are serious about this, I suggest scouting one day and then going out in time for sunrise the next day.

 

[JimFox]

Maybe next time I will make it out there Ben. It's been on my radar for almost 10 years I would say. I have stopped and looked for it before but I hadn't tried hiking in to look for it as I wasn't sure I was that close to it. Usually it would be from a higher observation point like at the Snake River Overlook, or even some of the higher hills along that inner road where I had stopped and then tried to get a sight of it.

 

[Ben Egbert]

There is supposed to be an old park road running close to the tree, but never saw it. It's hard to get a view of the Tetons without those other trees blocking it.

 

[AlanLichty]

Biggest problem would be finding a parking space near Jenny Lake. The congestion in that area when we were there was off the scale. I took the inner park road to get down to Jackson from the Signal Mountain campground a couple of times and the south entrance to Jenny Lake was the most crowded place in the park.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Alan, it's not so crowded at this turn off. There is a wide space in the road about 200 yds south of the turnoff and is about the best place to park, but we parked even further south. Remember, this is the south exit of the Jenny lake loop road.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Edited. I was wrong, the parking is by the north entrance to Jenny Lake. I got the coordinates from my GPS that Rick and I used. I added them in the opening post which now has GPS for the tree and also for the TH or parking place.

 

[AlanLichty]

I like the updated trailhead GPS info - I was within a mile of that trailhead shooting the views of the peaks the last day I was there after the Oxbow sunrise. That area wasn't congested at all.

 

[Amy Nelson]

Very nice!