Drive Through a Giant Redwood in Northern California

Someone carved a tunnel through a living 2,400-year-old tree so that motorists could say they drove through a redwood. The tree has been standing since roughly the era of ancient Rome. The hole is 6 feet wide and 6 feet 9 inches tall. It has survived. The Chandelier Tree in Leggett, California remains alive despite the intervention, and the drive-through is one of those roadside attractions that sounds gimmicky until you are actually sitting inside a tree older than most nations and realising you have almost no frame of reference for the thing you are experiencing.

Three Trees, Three Situations

California has three living drive-through redwoods, all on or near US Highway 101, and they are genuinely different from one another:

Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree in Leggett (67402 Drive-Thru Tree Road) is the most famous and the most southern of the three. The tree is roughly 315 feet tall and sits in a privately operated 200-acre park that also has walking trails, a duck pond, and a gift shop. Entry runs $15 per car (pedestrians and motorcyclists pay $10). Open every day from 8:30 AM until sundown, closed only on Christmas Day and Thanksgiving. The tunnel opening is the largest of the three, which matters if you are driving anything bigger than a compact SUV.

Shrine Drive-Thru Tree at 13708 Avenue of the Giants in Myers Flat sits right on the Avenue of the Giants corridor and charges around $8 per vehicle. It has a more cramped opening than the Chandelier Tree, and taller vehicles will have difficulty or will not fit. The surrounding Avenue of the Giants setting is arguably the most dramatic context of the three.

Tour-Thru Tree in Klamath (430 CA-169) is the most northerly option, located near Redwood National Park. At $5 per car it is the cheapest, and it tends to get fewer visitors than the other two. If you are already heading to Redwood National Park and want to tick the drive-through experience without a long detour, this is the one to stop at.

None of the three trees need to be your primary reason for visiting the region. They are better understood as punctuation marks along a longer drive through one of the most extraordinary landscapes in North America.

The Avenue of the Giants

The Avenue of the Giants is a 31-mile two-lane road that runs parallel to modern Highway 101 through Humboldt Redwoods State Park. There is no fee to drive it. The park contains the largest remaining stand of old-growth coast redwood forest in the world, including trees that reach over 350 feet. The Avenue passes through named groves including Founders Grove, where a short half-mile loop trail puts you under canopy that does not branch until about 200 feet up.

The Gould Grove Nature Loop is another easy flat trail (0.6 miles) with interpretive signs explaining how redwoods survive fire, insects, and flooding through chemical compounds in their bark. These are practical details that most visitors find more interesting than they expected.

Plan three to four hours minimum for the Avenue if you want to stop at groves and walk the short trails. Driving through without stopping takes about 45 minutes but misses the point entirely.

Getting There

The Avenue of the Giants is about 45 minutes south of Eureka on US-101. Eureka itself is served by Arcata/Eureka Airport (ACV), which has connecting flights from San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle. San Francisco to Eureka takes approximately 5 to 6 hours by car on US-101, covering around 280 miles. The redwood corridor is not on the way to anything else; you go there deliberately or you do not go.

From Eureka, the Chandelier Tree in Leggett is a further 90 minutes south on US-101.

Where to Eat

The honest answer is that dining options along the Avenue of the Giants are limited, and packing a lunch for a picnic in the redwoods is not a compromise, it is actually the best option. That said:

Flavors Restaurant in Garberville (on Redwood Drive) is the most consistently recommended local option in the area: comfort food with good portions and reasonable prices, around $15 to $25 per person. Garberville is the largest town within easy reach of the southern portion of the Avenue.

In Eureka, the dining scene is considerably better. Restaurant 301 at the Carter House Inns is the standout: a farm-to-table restaurant with a serious wine cellar that regularly wins recognition well beyond what you would expect from a town of Eureka’s size. Plan on $60 to $90 per person for dinner. Lost Coast Brewery on 4th Street is the casual alternative with good craft beer and pub food in the $15 to $25 range.

Where to Stay

Carter House Inns in Eureka occupies a cluster of Victorian buildings in the Old Town district and is probably the best accommodation within a reasonable drive of the redwoods. Rates run $180 to $350 per night depending on room and season. Restaurant 301 is on-site.

Benbow Historic Inn in Garberville (445 Lake Benbow Drive) is a 1926 Tudor Revival property on the Eel River, closer to the Avenue of the Giants, with rates roughly $150 to $250 per night. It was a regular stop for the Roosevelts and Herbert Hoover in the 1930s.

Camping within Humboldt Redwoods State Park at Burlington, Hidden Springs, or Albee Creek campgrounds puts you directly under the trees. Sites run around $35 per night and should be booked through ReserveCaliforda.com well in advance for summer weekends.

When to Go

Summer (June through August) brings reliable dry weather and long days, but also the most visitors. Spring (April through May) and fall (September through October) offer cooler temperatures, far fewer people, and the same trees. Fog is common in the mornings year-round and is worth experiencing: coastal redwood forest in fog is a different landscape to the same forest in sunlight, and the moss-covered understory looks particularly otherworldly.

Winter visits are possible but some campgrounds close and the Eel River can flood sections of the Avenue after heavy rainfall. Check road conditions before driving in December through February.

Other Activities

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, north of the Avenue near Orick, has Fern Canyon: a narrow gorge where five species of fern grow on 50-foot walls of rock. It featured in a Jurassic Park film and the setting justifies the reference. Access requires a short hike from the trailhead parking area ($12 day-use fee).

Humboldt Bay near Eureka offers kayak rentals and bird-watching, with one of the largest populations of wintering shorebirds on the Pacific Coast. The bay estuary sees significant concentration of birds between October and March.

Arrive at any of the old-growth groves on a weekday morning before 10 AM. The light filters through the canopy differently in the first hour after sunrise, and the tour groups have not yet arrived.