Arnold, Calif. • Fans are mourning a giant sequoia in California famous for a "drive-thru" hole carved into its trunk after a massive storm toppled the mighty tree.
The tree shattered on impact when it went down Sunday, said Jim Allday, Calaveras Big Trees State Park volunteer.
"It was majestic," he said. "Now it's basically a pile of rubble."
A tunnel was carved into the tree's trunk in the 1880s to allow tourists to pass through, though weakening the giant. The tunnel had allowed cars to pass, but it only was allowed to be crossed by foot in recent decades.
Generations of locals and tourists have visited the tree for centuries, posing for photos and carving their names into it. Many of them took to social media Sunday and Monday, posting their memories of the tree.
"It's kind of like someone in the family has died," said Joyce Brown, 65, a retired middle school teacher who has been visiting the tree since she was 12 and owns a cabin in nearby Arnold.
Brown said four generations of her family spent countless hours at the tree and often took out-of-town visitors there, some from as far away as Turkey.
"Everyone who went there was shocked at how big a tree could be," she said. "As a child you think you had come to a land of giants, that there must be giant people and giant animals living there because of the diameter of these trees."
This Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017 photo provided by Jim Allday shows the ruins of the Pioneer Cabin tunnel tree, a giant, centuries-old sequoia in Calaveras Big Trees State Park near Arnold in California's Sierra Nevada, after it came crashing down during a storm earlier Sunday. A massive storm system stretching from California into Nevada swept through the area over the weekend. Park volunteer Joan Allday said the tree had been weakening and leaning severely to one side for several years. (Jim Allday via AP)
This Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017 photo provided by Jim Allday shows the ruins of the Pioneer Cabin tunnel tree, a giant, centuries-old sequoia in Calaveras Big Trees State Park near Arnold in California's Sierra Nevada, after it came crashing down during a storm earlier Sunday. A massive storm system stretching from California into Nevada swept through the area over the weekend. Park volunteer Joan Allday said the tree had been weakening and leaning severely to one side for several years. (Jim Allday via AP)
This Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017 photo provided by Jim Allday shows an informational sign at the ruins of the Pioneer Cabin tunnel tree, a giant, centuries-old sequoia in Calaveras Big Trees State Park near Arnold in California's Sierra Nevada, after it came crashing down during a storm earlier Sunday. A massive storm system stretching from California into Nevada swept through the area over the weekend. Park volunteer Joan Allday said the tree had been weakening and leaning severely to one side for several years. (Jim Allday via AP)
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