Giant Redwoods

Thanks Larrison, you knocked me back to square one and made me revise my thinking. We really want to drive through a tree if possible and information from your link shows we can do that. Perhaps from Lake Tahoe we could scoot up to the Volcanic Ntl Park then cut across to the Redwood Forest. The Oregon caves are not that far from there and would be a nice stop also. Then we could go to Crater Lake Natl. Park and maybe even check out the sights along the Columbia River after that. We would really like to drive north along the Pacific coast and explore a few small Oregon towns.
The only thing that I worry about now will be the price of gas. From what I understand California historically has always had the highest prices and I predict it could be well over $4.00 per gallon come September. That’s not far fetched as it is $3.07 today in Southern New England

Near the General Sherman in Sequoia National Park, there's also a fallen trunk which you can walk through, and it gives an odd and somewhat erie perspective on just how big these trees are.

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It's especially bizarre looking out at the living trees from inside one!

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And naturally, the General Sherman itself is bigger and more impressive than one can imagine (or capture in a photograph).

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All in all Sequoia National Park is an outstandingly beautiful place, it's very humbling to see such majestic grandeur. Apart from the redwoods themselves the Generals' Highway offers spectacular views of all the facets of the mountains and valleys, the only downside is your arms may get tired from steering around the excessively twisty roads!

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the only downside is your arms may get tired from steering around the excessively twisty roads!

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That is ONE of the fun parts! Thanks for the visuals -- very nice photos.

The biggest difference between the Redwood forests along the coast and the Sequoias (found in the western Sierras -- beyond they fact that they are different plants...) is the level of ground vegetation in the redwood forests -- millions of ferns and the ground is literally teeming with life.

Mark

*Wry smile* sorry uclid if I messed up your plans. I'd been through the Redwoods area about 2 years ago, so I was aware there were drive through trees. Some are limited by how big the vehicle that can go through can be, I noticed.

For a random comments on your trip?

- Lassen is a national park I really like, but there's not a lot to it. Its a wonderful place to hike and backpack, with really nice mountain scenery, but I'd had a couple of people express disappointment to me there "wasn't more to it than that...." YMMV, of course.

- For a ROM route, there's been a lot of discussion on the boards for some routes that would go Las Vegas, through Death Valley, up the east side of the Sierras, across Tioga Pass to Yosemite. Then you can continue up the west side of the Sierras through the 49'er gold country to Tahoe.

From Tahoe/Reno you can go north through Susanville to Lassen, and come down to RedBluff or Redding, and to across to the coast. An alternative would be come west via Sacramento, through the Napa Valley for wine tasting, and then north via 101. That gives you the option of hitting the coast at Mendicino, versus coming in Eureka.

I definitely would hit the Redwoods -- there are some very nice campsites and wonderful places to visit the Redwoods.

If you've got the time, one path would be to continue up the Oregon Coast to Astoria, then west through Portland to go up the Columbia Gorge through the Dalles. And then south via 99 through Bend to Crater Lake, and return east from there.