An Iconic Northern California Tourist Destination Has Toppled…
You’ve no doubt seen this: the ancient Redwood tree so big that you can walk through it…you can find many pictures of this unique redwood tree online…
This Redwood is located in Calaveras Big Trees State Park, and it fell during a powerful storm that hit Northern California this past weekend – this tree was was 150 feet tall and had a 33-foot diameter.
As The Modesto Bee reports:
“This iconic and still living tree – the tunnel tree – enchanted many visitors,” reads a post on the Facebook page of the Calaveras Big Trees Association. “The storm was just too much for it.”
Here is the picture they posted of the downed tree:
The giant sequoia was originally hollowed out in the 1880s as a tourist stunt, since it allowed people to walk “thru” the tree.
And The Los Angeles Times reports:
“The tree, named for the tunnel that had been carved into its broad base 137 years ago, was located in the Calaveras Big Trees State Park and toppled Sunday.
“We lost an old friend today,” wrote county resident Jim Allday, who posted a picture of the fallen titan on his Facebook page.
His photos show the tree trunk splintered heavily at its base.
Visitors could once drive through the tree, but it was most recently open only to hikers along a 1.5-mile loop.”
This is sad news, but know that there is still a Redwood standing in Northern California that offers the same unique viewpoint:
My wife Alex and I drove down the Oregon coast and through Northern California’s incredible Redwood forest on highway 101…
The Chandelier Tree Lives!
At first, I thought that the “drive thru” tree that we experienced, called The Chandelier, was the tree that had fallen…
Luckily, this tree is still standing, located in another part of Northern California…so if you’ve ever wanted to see a unique tree like this, now is your chance! The Chandelier Tree was opened in 1937, and can still be visited today.
The state of California has long since stopped the practice of carving roads through these magnificent trees, but there are still two remaining….it was all part of an incredible adventure we had down the Pacific coastline of Oregon:
If you’ve never had the chance to discover the west coast of the US, it’s really magical…you can see our entire trip down the incredibly beautiful Oregon coast here:
Sad news about the Redwood in Calaveras Big Tree State Park, and happy to know that two others still survive…