The Tunnel Log Guide
Rangers in Sequoia National Park are frequently asked where visitors can find the tree you can drive through, made famous by decades of photographs, with people posing in their automobiles as they literally passed through the base of a tree. That specific tree, or what's left of it, is actually found in Yosemite National Park, a reminder of a time when tunneling through the massive sequoia and redwood of California was acceptable. Fear not, though, as Sequoia National Park does have it's very own (downed) tree you can drive through: the Tunnel Log.
When to Visit
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While little more than a pit stop on the way to Crescent Meadow, the Tunnel Log is a popular attraction; in busier summer months, don't be surprised to find more than a few cars lined up waiting for someone to take their picture as they pass through. The road actually closes on weekends during the summer, with travel on it only allowed by the park's free shuttle--it does stop at the Tunnel Log though. In the winter, the road closes to vehicles and is only accessible by those on skis.
How to Get There
The Tunnel Log is located on Crescent Meadow Road, a little more than halfway down it before the parking area for Crescent Meadow. Find the road off the main drive through the park, the General's Highway (Route 198), near the Giant Forest Museum, and around 15 minutes from the Lodgepole visitor center. For vehicles too big to fit through the tree, there is a bypass.
The Tunnel Log
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Time: 5 - 10 minutes.
Distance: N/A.
The original tunnel tree, the Wawona, was carved out in 1881, and located in Yosemite's Mariposa Grove of sequoia. In the early age of the automobile, the early park service commissioned the tunnel as a way to boost tourism in Yosemite. Indeed, you can still find vintage posters of the park with photographs or illustrations of people driving their cars through the Wawona Tree.
Driving through the Wawona Tree. Credit: National Park Service.
The Wawona's tunnel was cut from an existing fire scar on the tree, and made the slight lean the tree had even worse. After a particularly harsh winter that left a large amount of wet and heavy snow on it's crown, the weakened, 2,300 year old Wawona toppled in 1969. What's left of the tree can still be found in Mariposa Grove today.
The toppled Wawona Tree. Credit: PunkToad.
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Hi there, I'm Dan: videographer, travel-addict, and beer-lover. I left corporate life behind to start my own video business and travel the world. Want to know more about me and Dan Treks?
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Creating new tunnels in trees that are still standing is a thing of the past, as the park service has shifted more toward conservation than simply attracting tourists. Sequoia's tunnel log is different though: in 1937 when a 2,000 year old, 275 foot high sequoia came crashing down due to natural causes, it did so right over the Crescent Meadow Road. Instead of cutting and clearing the tree, the park service instead cut a tunnel through it, creating one of the park's more popular attractions in the process.
To visit the Tunnel Log yourself, take the Crescent Meadow Road, veering left when it bisects, with the right side taking you to Moro Rock. Along the way you'll pass a different downed sequoia, with it's large root system exposed, as well as the Parker Group: a tight cluster of some very large sequoia trees named after one of the park's earliest superintendents.
Fallen sequoia along the way to Tunnel Log / The Parker Group, with Dan for scale.
Just past the Parker Group, the road goes downhill, and at the bottom is where you'll find the Tunnel Log. There's a small pullout to the right of it with some additional information; it's also a good place to park if you want to hop out and take some pictures quickly.
At the Tunnel Log and it's bypass on the left, the road kind of becomes one-way: the passage through the log itself definitely only fits one vehicle, but there's no set direction. In short, just be extra careful when driving around here so you don't hit anyone.
From here, you can proceed to Crescent Meadow, a short and tranquil hike around one of Sequoia's several alpine meadows; for more information on Crescent Meadow, click here. If meadows quite aren't your thing and you're wondering what else the park has to offer, click here.
Crescent Meadow.