The Lone Cypress and 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach

A group of visitors point their cameras to the Lone Cypress, perhaps the most photographed tree in North America.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

This spindly old conifer, small for its species, was scarred by a long-ago arson. For more than 65 years, half-hidden steel cables have held the tree in place.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Visitors traveling on a sport fishing boat snap photos of the Lone Cypress.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Cab driver Rickey Sharpe takes a picture of a group of tourists he drove to the Lone Cypress.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A pair of chairs are perched beneath two old cypress trees near the Lone Cypress.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

If you pay the $9.75 per car to cruise 17-Mile Drive (which is private property, part of the 5,300-acre Pebble Beach resort), you will see the Lone Cypress and behold the spectacular collision of land, sea, golf and wealth that is Pebble Beach.   (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A group of riders amble down a trail along 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Seaside daisies grace the rocky cliffs along 17-Mile Drive.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Golfers in Pebble Beach know they must share the links with the deer that roam freely on golf courses along 17-Mile Drive.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Sea lions frolic in the surf near Bird Rock along the 17-Mile Drive.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A pair of whales spout as they drift past Bird Rock.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The incoming tide covers rocks near the Lone Cypress.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A group of locals enjoy a bonfire in the picnic area just south of Bird Rock.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The sun sets behind Bird Rock.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A group of pelicans soar over the top of Bird Rock along 17-Mile Drive.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Shorebirds cluster and roost on Bird Rock.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)