The Ties Left Behind near Alpine Tunnel - part 1

An abandoned railroad line with little to no remnants of its physical existence (outside of the engineering of course) can easily be mistaken as just a hiking or biking route or some old access road, but the existence of remaining railroad ties reminds the un-train-minded that this is not just a trail.  It also encourages the railfan that "something" is still hanging on to keep the history of the line alive.

One reason I love the eastern three miles of the South Park Line's roadbed to the east portal of Alpine Tunnel is that quite a few stretches of ties remain in place.  They are in various stages of decay but still hang on 108 years (the photos below are from 2018) after the last train rolled over them in 1910.

The following series of blog posts will include photos or remaining ties between Hancock and the east portal.

(Sadly, some of the tie remains have gotten so faint you may have to click on the photos to expand them to actually make out the ties.)

Heading west

I didn't take many photos in this direction due to my focus on filming the entire walk with my GoPro.  You can see that video here.  

The photos above and below are from our hike towards the east portal of Alpine Tunnel.  We have left Hancock and are walking west.

In spots like these the ties have been spared many feet due to more people walking to the right of the roadbed (except my family!...and those other people in the background).

Heading East

With the GoPro video of the walk west completed and having spent time exploring the East Portal remains, we now started our return walk east.

In this photo not far from East Portal just a few remnants of ties remain.

These ties have persisted since rock fall has covered them and hikers have trod a path around the rocks.

A lonely tie remains right in the middle of the roadbed.

Here is another tie (or the same one as above?) still hanging on under the dirt and rocks.

Here is Part 2