Tunnel trees had their time & place in the history of our national parks

January 9, 2017 8:18 AM

Tunnel trees are a thing. Created in the 19th and early 20th century to promote parks and inspire tourism. They're good for engagement, but bad for the tree. One of the last known sequoia tunnel trees was recently brought down by a storm in California. A sequoia drive-throughable tunnel log does still exist.
posted by jessamyn (47 comments total)

... And a place where you can drive through the middle of a tree
We've seen alligator farms and tarantula ranches,
But there's still one thing we gotta see ...
posted by Melismata at 8:20 AM on January 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

I remember walking under a tunnel tree in California years ago and thinking how it so encapsulated human's relationship with nature: Our ability to appreciate the sublime beauty and power of nature while simultaneous needing to alter, benefits from, and ultimately destroy it.
posted by gwint at 8:25 AM on January 9, 2017 [11 favorites]

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posted by DaddyNewt at 8:25 AM on January 9, 2017

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posted by maryr at 8:26 AM on January 9, 2017

As in most things, I blame Harry and the Hendersons
posted by beerperson at 8:28 AM on January 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

I am amazed that if you put a car-sized hole in a tree trunk the tree can still survive for 150 more years.

And yes, when I first heard of this I thought of Weird Al's The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota. I'm glad I'm not the only one.
posted by bondcliff at 8:29 AM on January 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

I remember walking under a tunnel tree in California years ago and thinking how it so encapsulated human's relationship with nature: Our ability to appreciate the sublime beauty and power of nature while simultaneous needing to alter, benefits from, and ultimately destroy it.

And it further encapsulated America's relationship with nature by allowing one to do all of the above from and for one's automobile.
posted by entropicamericana at 8:34 AM on January 9, 2017 [10 favorites]

There are still other drive-through trees! I was just in Myers Flat in Humboldt County a few weeks ago and there was one just up the street from our B&B.
posted by olinerd at 8:38 AM on January 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

No one could have predicted this.
posted by monospace at 8:41 AM on January 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree. ---Joyce Kilmer
I recall that when the army was to close a base close to Rutgers, they gave the grounds to the college. The college, searching for a name, was chastized by letters to the local paper when they said the Kilmer poem was not a very good poem...Finally, a compromise, and now there is Campus Kilmer
posted by Postroad at 8:42 AM on January 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

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posted by allthinky at 8:46 AM on January 9, 2017

Human beings can be such assholes (... duh.)
Let's cut a huge hole in this living thing and drive our cars through it
posted by Auden at 8:51 AM on January 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

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posted by get off of my cloud at 8:53 AM on January 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

We definitely drove through one of these in the Humbolt redwoods when I was a little kid & even at the age of 6 or 7, it seemed kinda mean-spirited to me to do that to such a magnificent creature. Still, it was quite the novelty.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:56 AM on January 9, 2017

Chandelier Tree in Leggett, CA is still standing. My wife & I drove through it in 1997.
posted by zakur at 9:10 AM on January 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

Let's cut a huge hole in this living thing and drive our cars through it

And then you blink and suddenly the forest itself is the living thing and we've driven our cars through every single one
posted by tapesonthefloor at 9:32 AM on January 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

Human beings can be such assholes (... duh.)
Let's cut a huge hole in this living thing and drive our cars through it

And yet the tree goes on living, unbothered, for a hundred years...

I wonder who's superior.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:39 AM on January 9, 2017

I feel equal parts in mourning and amazement that this tree was likely at least 1000 years old. We should never fail to be amazed.

I was fortunate enough to live just across the line from a primarily Old Growth Wilderness Area in Oregon. One stormy night one of the giants went down.

It was a sound unlike any other. It woke me up with a start and it was felt deep in my chest. I can only imagine the sound this tree made when it fell. Wow.

The next morning I hiked up to see if I could find it. Managed to stumble across it. I was so heartened to know it would stay there to act as a Nursery Tree.

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posted by pipoquinha at 9:46 AM on January 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

I love the idea of nursery trees (surprisingly hard to google), that even in death trees have a role to play in the forest.
posted by jessamyn at 9:58 AM on January 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

bad for the tree

You don't fucking say.
posted by The Tensor at 10:07 AM on January 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

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posted by ZeusHumms at 10:12 AM on January 9, 2017

At least those pineapple express storms are bringing some rain to California.
posted by Bee'sWing at 10:13 AM on January 9, 2017

... And a place where you can drive through the middle of a tree
We've seen alligator farms and tarantula ranches,
But there's still one thing we gotta see ...

Synergistically enough, I just listened to that very song with my kids this very morning! (it's on the Dr. Demento 30th Anniversary album ...)

Human beings can be such assholes (... duh.)
Let's cut a huge hole in this living thing and drive our cars through it

Um. Do you live anywhere without roads? The whole earth was filled with forests. Now it's paved. Pros and cons. I don't think putting holes in a few trees (that were mostly already struck with lightning) is our species' biggest blunder.

I ran through the Shrine tree in Myers Flat with the kids. It's nothing awe-inspiring like Redwood forests, but it's worth a stop if it's not too crowded.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:38 AM on January 9, 2017

even in death trees have a role to play in the forest

Well, yeah. A dead redwood tree can host countless ecosystems. They're loaded with nutrients and water, and help diversify forests.

There's a whole branch of gardening that's become popular lately called "hugelkultur," wherein folks try to duplicate that forest action in their own beds, using stumps and logs. A guy in my neighborhood has a huge one. It seems like a pretty cool idea for low-maintenance folks (once you get it all set up...)
posted by mrgrimm at 10:44 AM on January 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

I share with others here the immediate sense that this is an ugly thing to do to an ancient tree. To what extent my hatred of car culture influences that isn't clear. Walking through a tree isn't really any different, but it sure feels less offensive.

On the other hand, I remember my mom speaking with delight about the car trips she took as a child through California. The tree "so big you can drive a car through it" was, to a kid in the back seat in the 1950s, the single most memorable and exciting thing she took away from a trip through Yosemite. She remains very fond of the park, and the park system in general, despite not having returned to Yosemite since. When I visited for the first time, she asked me to look for the tree. (It was long gone.)

I don't know how you weigh the damage to one tree, or the damage done to the dignity we attach to the idea of trees, against the joy that driving through a tree brings to visitors. Of all the things mankind has done to destroy sequoia, making a few of them into whimsical tunnels hardly seems like the worst crime. Doing silly things in parks is a non-trivial part of the reason people vote for parks, even if it makes me cringe at times.

Or, in short, I share Sarah Vowell's ambivalence about building silly things in natural places.
posted by eotvos at 11:01 AM on January 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

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posted by Pocahontas at 11:14 AM on January 9, 2017

Oh!

I know these tree-tunnels are wrong, but since they are already there, I have always hoped to get to California to see a giant redwood and drive or walk through it -- like a tiny human standing between a giant's feet.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:36 AM on January 9, 2017

The sequoia that fell over the weekend was apparently the last living sequoia tunnel tree, which seems like burying the lede a bit. From the article (emphasis added):

It's unclear exactly how old the tree was, but The Los Angeles Times reports that the trees in the state park are estimated to be more than 1,000 years old. Sequoias can live for more than 3,000 years.

The iconic tree was one of just a few tunneled-through sequoias in California. The most famous was the Wawona Tree, in Yosemite National Park; it fell during a winter storm in 1969 at an estimated age of 2,100 years. The other remaining sequoia tunnels are dead or consist of logs on their side, the Forest Service says.

However, there are still three coastal redwoods (taller and more slender than sequoias) with tunnels cut through them. They're all operated by private companies, the Forest Service says, and still allow cars to drive through — one appeared in a recent Geico ad.
posted by smokysunday at 11:36 AM on January 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

However, there are still three coastal redwoods (taller and more slender than sequoias) with tunnels cut through them.

Coastal redwoods are genus Sequoia . . . Anyone want to educate me as to the implicit distinctions being made in this paragraph?
posted by mark k at 12:33 PM on January 9, 2017

Coastal Sequoias are found along the Pacific coast of Northern California into Southern Oregon. On the other hand, Giant Sequoias are not quite as tall but are significantly more rotund. They are only found at altitude in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Essentially they are only found in and around Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.
posted by mmascolino at 12:49 PM on January 9, 2017

The sequoia that fell over the weekend was apparently the last living sequoia tunnel tree, which seems like burying the lede a bit.

Honestly I wasn't clear on the redwood/sequoia distinction either (or the scope of what the article was saying, was this only in California or everywhere?) which was why I left that part out.
posted by jessamyn at 12:50 PM on January 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

The sequoia that fell over the weekend was apparently the last living sequoia tunnel tree, which seems like burying the lede a bit. From the article (emphasis added):

It's real obvious that many of the writers of these articles just Googled "Sequoia with tunnel" before writing these things.

While The Pioneer Cabin Tree is an example of a "California Tunnel Tree", there is a tree actually named "The California Tunnel Tree" at Mariposa Grove, which is the last living tunnel tree. At least according to The Wikipedias.

Besides the "last living example" thing, lots of these articles say specifically The California Tunnel Tree fell down, instead of the more accurate "one of the trees known as 'California Tunnel Trees' feel down."
posted by sideshow at 12:56 PM on January 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Skip the tunnel trees anyway, total tourist trap. Find a trail and enjoy the majesty of the redwoods.
posted by agregoli at 2:09 PM on January 9, 2017

See the tunnel trees anyway, total tourist trap for centuries. See the generations of teenagers who carved their initials into these living monuments and appreciate both the fleeting nature of their lives in comparison to the tree's AND the egotistic nature of humanity that we come upon something like a redwood and need to put our names on.

And, with both the tunnel and the names, appreciate how much better our national park system has made us. Yes, some idiots still knock over ancient rocks and graffiti sacred sites and drive across desert flats, but most of us are horrified by it and have inherited an urge to preserve and protect. And think how much further we have to go and how we can help get there. How we can let the tunnel tree die naturally and become a full part of its ecosystem again.
posted by maryr at 2:38 PM on January 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

Oh yes, Nursery Trees is a tough google. I think the generic scientific term is "Course Woody Debris." It's a really interesting subject given that fallen trees, branches, stems as well as dead standing trees (called Snags) are critical components of forest health.
posted by pipoquinha at 3:19 PM on January 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Kilmer poem was not a very good poem

ha ha ... ya think? ;->
posted by Twang at 4:34 PM on January 9, 2017

The details are hazy, but I am almost sure that I drove through one with my family, in the 70s, down in the famous park in California.
posted by Meatbomb at 4:56 PM on January 9, 2017

There is (was?) a Minecraft mod that had giant sequoias in it. The roots go way down, and they are big enough that you can mine out rooms within them.
posted by Meatbomb at 4:57 PM on January 9, 2017

Nature bats last, you know...
posted by not_on_display at 5:19 PM on January 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

They are the home team.
posted by maryr at 6:32 PM on January 9, 2017

At least those pineapple express storms are bringing some rain to California.

We don't need rain, we need snow. These past couple of storms have been too warm to produce consistent snowfall at anything but the highest elevations...
posted by elsietheeel at 6:59 PM on January 9, 2017

Glad to hear their are still a few trees you can walk/drive through. Walking through a massive tree like this is on my bucket list and I'd thought I'd missed my chance.

mrgrimm: " The whole earth was filled with forests."

Not really, there are lots of ecosystems that don't support forests and feature broad expanses of grasslands or sand dunes or bunchgrass and sagebrush or rock or ice to name a few. Where I live it is too hot and dry to support trees on most of the land and you find them only near sources of water whether year round or intermittent.
posted by Mitheral at 8:30 PM on January 9, 2017

Not really, there are lots of ecosystems that don't support forests and feature broad expanses of grasslands or sand dunes or bunchgrass and sagebrush or rock or ice to name a few.

Rocks and year-round ice, sure, but grasslands are the result of a war between the stately trees and the newcomer bastards, the grasses.

Plants control their environments. Big forests make shade and capture water at the ground level, plus change the water cycle in the atmosphere above. Walk through a redwood forest in the middle of the dry, hot California summer and it's amazing how cool and green the forest floor is. (Not "green" like a lawn, but still lots of sorrels and ferns.)

Grasses evolved recently and developed a superefficient "C4" photosynthetic pathway. They can't compete with full grown trees for sunlight, so they employ a weapon of mass destruction--fire. They get a little foothold and make the fires a little worse by providing fuel, then grow faster on the open space. Next fire there's more grass to burn more trees, and the cycle repeats. This of course changes the surrounding environment in other ways, making it even less hospitable for trees and taking over more surface area and filling it with less biomass.

There's a battle going on and the grasses are winning.

Two of my favorite reads last year, Emerald Planet and Eating the Sun educated me to how much plants, like humans, create the world they want to live in. The authors feign impartiality on the grasses vs. trees part of this, but deep down I'm sure they're rooting for the trees too. Because who wouldn't?
posted by mark k at 9:20 PM on January 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

There's a battle going on and the grasses are winning.

I suppose this may be true in some drier climates, but as a child of the well watered slopes of the Appalachians, let me tell you that there is no grassy field on most of the East Coast of the US that will not turn into a forest if not mown regularly.
posted by tavella at 2:08 AM on January 10, 2017

The SF Chronicle noted no one was around when the great sequoia fell so it was unclear if it made a sound.

Also of note in the neighborhood is the Discovery Tree:

A tree named the ‘Discovery Tree’ was felled in 1853 leaving a giant stump that measured 24 feet (7.3 m) in diameter at its base and by tree ring count was over 1,000 years old. A plaque at the site explains that pieces of the Discovery Tree were displayed in New York and other cities to promote the location, but many people were outraged the tree was cut down. The entire promotion was considered a failure. Later, the stump was used as a dance floor and then a pavilion, bowling alley, and a bar.

Mas aqui. You can stand on it too!
posted by Ogre Lawless at 3:57 PM on January 10, 2017

mrgrimm: " The whole earth was filled with forests."

Not really. Not really, there are lots of ecosystems that don't support forests...

excuse the hyperbole. sub "north america" for "earth"
posted by mrgrimm at 12:50 PM on January 12, 2017

This is getting way off topic but post glacial, pre-columbus North America had vast stretches of Tall and Short grass prairie (the latter maintained by bison) and mixed tree and grass savannas even before indigenous peoples started setting fires to modify the ecosystem.
posted by Mitheral at 4:14 PM on January 12, 2017