Finding the south end of the Tennessee Pass Tunnel

 The high mountain railroad line going over the Tennessee Pass has a 3000 foot tunnel. This rail line is still owned by the Union Pacific Railroad, but has been out of service since 1997. It is famous for being the highest mountain railroad pass in North America.

We found the North entrance to the Tennessee Pass tunnel several years ago and documented that trip in this blog post: Tennessee Pass railfanning

We also found a much shorter tunnel along the river thru the canyon east of Salida, Colorado and wrote about it here: Tennessee Pass tunnel in the Canyon 

The south end of the Tennessee Pass tunnel eluded us as we never seemed to find the access road. This trip we did however. It is marked as Lake County 21A. It is a rough dirt road that is passable by a 2WD vehicle in dry weather.

This takes you downhill to a parking area adjacent the railroad tracks.

This is the view of the tunnel from the parking area

The enclosures for the signal system are still there, but gutted of contents

Our intrepid Schnauzer is always ready for a railroad hike

So is Julie

Pretty impressive rail insulator

Switch mechanism is more or less intact

LOTS of tagging on the tunnel entrance

We walked a short ways into the tunnel. Didn't make it too far as the track and ties were soon covered several inches deep with snow and ice. We were there in early August. We took coats and a powerful light just in case.

Our dog was ready to go to get back outside

Ready to head home...