A narrow gravel road climbs up through ferns and shade along a California highway, and then suddenly there it is, a redwood so wide that someone carved a tunnel right through the bottom of it.
I spotted the little wooden sign and turned off without even thinking, rolled my windows down, folded my mirrors in, and inched forward while bark passed by inches from my door handles.
The whole thing took maybe ninety seconds, and I laughed the entire time. This corner of the state sits in one of the quietest stretches of the coast, where the river meets the ocean and the trees feel older than anything I can picture.
The redwood itself has been standing for centuries, and the tunnel was carved in the 1970s as a roadside attraction that has been drawing travelers ever since. I pulled through the tree, parked on the other side, and sat for a moment just looking back at the opening I had come through.
A stop that is short, a little goofy, and genuinely memorable is exactly the kind of thing I keep chasing on long drives.
A Tunnel Carved by Chainsaw in 1976
History here is surprisingly recent. The tunnel through this redwood was cut in May 1976, which makes it the youngest of California’s drive-through trees.
Harold A. Del Ponte, a retired United States Air Force Major and a former Del Norte County supervisor, was the one who commissioned the work.
He hired two nephews for the job, one an engineer and the other a tree faller, and they went at the trunk with a chainsaw that measured seven feet long.
The whole thing took them less than two days. They were offered a choice between six hundred dollars up front or a lifetime cut of the tourism money, and they took the cash.
What I find genuinely impressive is how carefully the cutting was done. The crew worked around the critical areas of living wood, which is why the tree still produces sap and keeps growing today.
The grove itself had already been saved from logging back in 1967, so the redwood was standing safe for nearly a decade before anyone thought to drive a car through it. Knowing that backstory made my slow crawl through the trunk feel a lot more interesting.
Meeting a Redwood That Is Roughly 800 Years Old
Numbers do not always land until you are standing next to them. This coastal redwood, a Sequoia sempervirens, is estimated to be somewhere between 750 and 800 years old.
Do the math and you land in a time long before highways, cars, or roadside attractions of any kind existed. The tree rises about 167 feet into the canopy, and its trunk measures roughly 17 feet across at eye level.
I tried to photograph the whole thing from base to crown and gave up almost immediately. There is no good angle, which somehow felt like the right answer.
The bark up close is thick, fibrous, and warm reddish-brown, and it feels more like rope than wood when you brush against it. Redwood bark is naturally resistant to fire and insects, which is part of why these giants last so long.
Look upward on the uphill side of the drive and you will spot a myrtlewood tree overhead, a small detail plenty of visitors miss entirely. Little discoveries like that turned a two-minute stop into something I lingered over far longer than planned.
Squeezing Your Vehicle Through the Opening
Measure your car before you get excited. The opening runs about 7.4 feet wide and roughly 9.6 feet tall, which sounds generous until you are actually lined up in front of it.
Sedans and compact SUVs slide through without much drama. Mid-size and larger vehicles are a different story, and folding in your mirrors is basically mandatory for anything wider than a small crossover.
Visitors have reported getting full-size SUVs through with about an inch of clearance on either side, which is not a margin I would want to test in a rush. Larger trucks may not make it at all, and RVs are not allowed past the parking area because of the steep grade and tight turning space.
My advice is simple. Go slow, keep your speed at a crawl, and have a passenger hop out beforehand to watch your clearance if you are unsure.
If your vehicle truly will not fit, you can still park and walk through the tunnel on foot. Honestly, walking it gives you a better look at the growth rings and tool marks anyway.
The Winding Little Road That Leads You There
Getting to the tree is half the fun, and I mean that literally. From Highway 101 you turn onto CA-169 and follow signs to a small entrance booth tucked near the bottom of a hill.
Past the booth, the road narrows and climbs. It is one lane in most places, packed dirt and gravel, with ferns crowding right up to the edges and redwood shade dropping the temperature by a few noticeable degrees.
Painted arrows guide you the whole way, so there is no real chance of getting turned around. A one-way loop takes you up to the tree, through the trunk, and back down again.
Take it slowly on the climb. Another vehicle could be coming the opposite direction near the top, and the shoulders are not forgiving.
Something about that short drive sets the mood perfectly. By the time the tunnel came into view through my windshield, I had already downshifted my whole pace to match the forest, which is exactly the frame of mind you want for a place like this.
Park in the small gravel area if you want photos before your pass.
One of Only Three Privately Owned Drive-Through Redwoods
Rarity is a big part of the appeal. Only three privately owned drive-through redwoods are still standing in California, and this one in Klamath is the newest of the group.
The other two sit further south, which means road trippers often try to collect all three across a single Redwood Coast itinerary. I liked that this one felt the least polished of the bunch, more homemade and less packaged.
Carving tunnels through living trees is not something anyone does anymore, and modern conservation thinking has moved firmly away from the practice. That makes these three survivors odd little relics of a different era of American road travel.
Back in the mid-twentieth century, drive-through trees were a genuine draw for families crossing the country by car. Photos of a station wagon parked inside a trunk were the kind of proof people brought home from vacation.
Standing there in the quiet, I thought about how many of those pictures must exist in shoeboxes and albums across the country. Adding one more felt like joining a long, slightly ridiculous tradition, and I was completely happy to do it.
Gift Shop, Picnic Tables, and a Restroom Inside a Tree
Not everything here is about the drive. A small gift shop sits near the entrance with souvenirs, the sort of place where you can pick up a postcard or a magnet and be back in your car within minutes.
Picnic tables are scattered nearby, and they are genuinely useful if you are covering long miles on Highway 101 with snacks in a cooler. Eating lunch surrounded by old-growth shade beats a gas station parking lot every single time.
The oddest amenity might be the restroom, which is built inside a section of a redwood tree. I did not expect that, and it made me laugh more than it probably should have.
Payment is collected at the booth, and when nobody is staffing it there is an honor system drop box instead. Bringing cash is a smart move even though cards are sometimes accepted.
Amenities here are modest by design. Set your expectations for a friendly, low-key family-run stop rather than a full visitor complex, and the place delivers exactly what it promises.
Emus Living in the Field Across the Way
Nobody warns you about the emus. Across from the Tour Thru Tree park sits a field where a group of the big flightless birds wander around, which is not something I expected to find in redwood country.
A group of emus is called a mob, a fact I only learned because of this stop. Watching them stalk across the grass on those long legs is genuinely entertaining, and their curious stares are hard to look away from.
They are native to Australia, so seeing them against a backdrop of Northern California conifers creates a mismatch that feels almost cartoonish. My travel companion and I spent longer looking at the birds than we did at the tunnel, and I have no regrets.
Keep your distance and stay on the road side of the fence, since they are farm animals rather than a petting zoo. Photos from the edge work perfectly well.
Little surprises like this are exactly why I still pull over for roadside attractions. You come for one strange thing and leave with two stories instead.
Building a Full Day Around Klamath and the River
Ten minutes at a tree does not fill an afternoon, and thankfully Klamath has plenty more waiting nearby. The Klamath River runs right alongside the area and draws anglers chasing Chinook and coho salmon, steelhead, and coastal cutthroat trout.
Paddlers bring kayaks and canoes out on calmer stretches. Wildlife shows up constantly too, with seals, sea lions, whales offshore, plus bears, osprey, and all sorts of birds along the banks.
Head to the Klamath River Overlook for one of the best views on this coast, where the river empties into the Pacific and whales sometimes pass during migration seasons. Fog rolling in over that spot is something I still think about.
Redwood National and State Parks surround the region with trails through groves that dwarf anything you can photograph. The Trees of Mystery offers interpretive paths, a museum, and a gondola that lifts you into the canopy.
For deeper context on the land itself, the Yurok Country Visitor Center shares the heritage and culture of the Yurok Tribe. Pair a few of these together and Klamath becomes a real destination, not just a pit stop.
Address: 430 CA-169, Klamath, California, 95548
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