The giant redwoods of Northern California are the biggest trees inwards the globe alongside trunks too thence thick that it’s possible to carve a minor driveway through them. Early green promoters thought this was a skillful thought — practise drive-through tunnels too accuse tourists a fee to drive their cars through to the other side. It provided a swell photograph chance too the thought rapidly caught on. Over fourth dimension numerous drive-through trees , equally good equally walk-through trees too fifty-fifty step-thru stumps came along. The National Parks Service too environmentalists no longer permit drive-through trees to live created , only a handful of these tunnels that endure are carefully preserved.
California’s commencement drive-through tunnel was carved out of a dead too burned giant sequoia at Tuolumne Grove inwards Yosemite National Park. The tree was struck past times lightening only was all the same living when she was cutting downwardly at xc feet from the solid soil too debarked. She was tunneled inwards 1875 to promote tourism. The tree all the same stands , although yous tin can no longer drive through the tunnel.
The tree that started it all. The dead giant at Tuolumne Grove. Photo credit: faungg's photos/Flickr
The dead giant at Tuolumne Grove. Photo credit: Mikel Ortega/Flickr
The success at Tuolumne Grove inspired other entrepreneurs to practise similar attractions. In 1881 , a two ,000-year-old giant sequoia called the Wawona Tree inwards Mariposa Grove , Yosemite National Park , was tunneled , too it became Yosemite's nigh pop tourist attraction. The tree stood for 88 years , only the cruel set upwardly on on her torso left the tree weakened too she lastly collapsed inwards a tempest inwards 1969. The tree had a pinnacle of 227 feet too was 26 feet inwards diameter at the base. The famous tunnel was seven feet broad , ix feet high too 26 feet long at the base. It all the same lies where it fell , too is straight off known equally the Fallen Tunnel Tree.
An one-time postcard of the Wawona Tree from 1956. Photo credit: unknown/public domain
The Wawona Tree. Photo credit: www.shorpy.com
The Wawona Tree today. Photo credit: PunkToad/Wikimedia
The folks over at Calaveras Big Trees State Park , eager non to live left out , carved their ain Pioneer Cabin Tree inwards the 1880s , too ended upwardly nearly killing the tree. It straight off clings to life alongside a unmarried branch of increment fueling the entire body. The tree all the same stands , only yous tin can no longer drive through the tunnel.
Pioneer Cabin Tree. Photo credit: www.outdoorproject.com
Pioneer Cabin Tree. Photo credit: Tom Purcell/Flickr
In the Mountain Home Grove , a wealthy rancher named Jesse Hoskins purchased an eighty-acre tract of giant sequoia trees inwards the southern Sierra Nevada , too carved a room into the torso of 1 giant tree that he named the Hercules Tree. Built betwixt 1897 too 1902 , the room is 12 feet inwards diameter too ix feet inwards height. Hoskins added a hinged wooden door too tried living inwards this room , only it leaked sap , too thence he made it into a gift store where he sold redwood trinkets made of forest left over from carving out the room. The tree is all the same standing , too the room tin can all the same live entered.
Hercules Tree. Photo credit: Mikesclark/Wikimedia
A postcard of the Hercules tree inwards the Mountain Home Grove , from 1902 . Photo credit: unknown
The nigh famous drive-through tree today is the Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree located inwards a privately-owned grove inwards Leggett , some 180 miles due north of the San Francisco Bay Area. This 276-foot-tall coast redwood tree sports a 6-foot broad past times 6-foot-9-inch high hole at its base of operations that was carved inwards 1937. The refer "Chandelier Tree" comes from its unique limbs hovering a 100-feet higher upwardly the solid soil similar a chandelier.
Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree. Photo credit: unknown/public domain
Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree. Photo credit: FarOutFlora/Flickr
Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree. Photo credit: J. Stephen Conn/Flickr
The Shrine Drive-Thru Tree is located inwards Myers Flat. Unlike the others , the angled opening of the Shrine Drive-Thru Tree formed naturally. Steel cables straight off securely anchor the tree to the ground.
Shrine Drive-Thru Tree. Photo credit: Hillary Hartley/Flickr
Shrine Drive-Thru Tree. Photo credit: John Hudson/Flickr
Shrine Drive-Thru Tree. Photo credit: Kirt Edblom/Flickr
The Klamath Tour Thru Tree , close Klamath , is the nigh recent drive-through tree , carved inwards 1976. The tunnel was created piece taking tending that critical areas of living forest was non damaged.
Klamath Tour Thru Tree. Photo credit: matt northam/Flickr
The Tunnel Log along the Crescent Meadow Road inwards Sequoia National Park is 1 of the few drive-through attraction that was created without harming the tree , because the tunnel was carved after the tree fell over. This giant sequoia fell across the Crescent Meadow Road inwards belatedly 1937. The next summertime , a 17 feet broad too 8 feet high tunnel was cutting through the fallen log equally a visitor attraction. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 bypass was added for those vehicles that didn’t fit. When the giant sequoia fell , the tree stood 275 feet high too was 21 feet inwards diameter at the base. It was over two ,000 years old.
Tunnel Log Tree. Photo credit: Amy the Nurse/Flickr
Tunnel Log Tree. Photo credit: Amy the Nurse/Flickr
The Big Cedar Stump inwards Snohomish County is believed to live 1 ,000 years old. It has a diameter of xx feet too was 200 feet tall. The tree was killed past times a sack inwards 1893. The archway was cutting inwards 1916 , too a few years afterward , the stump was moved 150 yards from its master place too set upwardly on a concrete base. The stump changed place a seat out of times earlier it was set upwardly at its electrical flow place at I-5 Northbound Smokey Point Rest Area.
Big Cedar Stump. Photo credit: SwellMap/Flickr
Big Cedar Stump. Photo credit: Jana Robertson/Google+
Big Cedar Stump at Smokey Point Rest Stop , WA. Photo credit: Brain Williams/Flickr
The Twin Drive Thru Tree was located at Confusion Hill , inwards Piercy , California , too originally had a narrow estimate rails set through the tunnel. The tunnel was afterward shut , too it appears that the attraction has been converted into “Twin Towers Memorial Trees” dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 attack.
Twin Drive Thru Tree. Photo credit: William Bird/Flickr
The California Tunnel Tree is some other tunneled tree inwards the Mariposa Grove. It has a narrow tunnel that cars cannot overstep only allows people to walk through. Photo credit: pixdaus.com
The Auto Tree inwards Big Basin State Park is non a drive-through tree only visitors would oftentimes dorsum their cars into the hollow to demonstrate the immensity of the tree. Photo credit: bouldercreekinsider.com
The Drive Way Stump was located at Redwood highway , also known equally Avenue of the Giants.
Sources: Cathedral Grove / www.fs.usda.gov