Posted on 01/09/2017 6:16:35 AM PST by Ray76
The historic Pioneer Cabin Tree, a former "drive-through" giant sequoia in Calaveras Big Trees State Park in Calaveras County, was felled in California's weekend storms.
The tree was hollowed out in the 1880s to allow tourists to pass through it, and even allowed cars, but more recently has hosted only hikers. It was part of the "Big Trees Trail" at the state park.
Jim Allday of Arnold is a volunteer at the park who was working there Sunday. He said the tree went down about 2 p.m. and "shattered" on impact.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
We drove through it when I was a kid.
I gotta admit that I find it fascinating that after being hollowed out, it still lasted 140 years.
Was bound to happen sooner or later....................
If they hadn’t stopped the cars going through, maybe it’s still standing. I don’t know.
All Things Must Pass, even trees have lifetime spans.
I think it is the hole, more than what’s going through the hole, that may have weakened it. But still, 140 years is pretty impressive.
Can it be salvaged and processed into lumber?
This isn’t the one discussed, but this would be awesome to see.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ucahb5GGeo
We’ll never know, will we?
The tree was in a flooded area and sequoias apparently have fairly shallow roots. That’s being blamed as the primary reason for the tree toppling. It wasn’t healthy either, described as largely dead with only a few branches having foliage. It was going to fall soon, one way or the other.
In 1957 and 1960, we drove our 1954 Ford through the Wawona tree, a similar tunnel tree in Yosemite National Park. This was a sequoia tree through which a tunnel was created in 1881. The tree fell in 1969 during a period of heavy snow and rain that caused massive flooding, just like what is going on today.
In California?
That's probably illegal.
Seriously.
Hopefully it is a harbinger for the fate of California in immediate future.
Yep. When my Dad was recalled to the Navy for Korea, we lived at the Alameda NAS and I remember we drove through this tree. That was about 65 years ago.
There are still a number of these trees out there still growing. Many of them are in the back woods areas of the Sierras. My father and I saw a some of them when hunting and they are just breathtaking. I have seen the cut away of some that were down and their sap rings in a few of the large ones indicated that some of the trees were around during the time of Christ. And they weren’t small then. Amazing.Funny thing is that their major threat is lightening strikes.
red
If it processed into lumber people with way too much money will pay a lot for a
2x4.
New decking for everyone!
I was driving my car yesterday around 2pm thru the opening in the tree when I skidded into the tree due to the rain and I swear I did not think hitting the tree did any damage.
As I drove away I heard a big WHOOSH... and big BOOM but it was raining hard and I did not know what made that sound till today.
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