The Spruce Railroad Trail (sometimes called Lake Crescent Trail) is a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

located on the shores of

Lake Crescent Lake Crescent is a deep lake located entirely within Olympic National Park in Clallam County, Washington, United States, approximately west of Port Angeles on U.S. Route 101 and nearby to the small community of Piedmont. At an official maxim ...

about west of Port Angeles, Washington, and is part of the 134-mile-long Olympic Discovery Trail. The trail follows the former Port Angeles Western Railroad grade along the shores of Lake Crescent. Built during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

for the

Spruce Production Division The Spruce Production Division was a unit of the United States Army established in 1917 to produce high-quality Sitka spruce timber and other wood products needed to make aircraft for the United States' efforts in World War I. The division was p ...

to transport

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

from the western

Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...

for the aircraft industry, the railroad was completed in 1919, a year too late for its intended purpose; it was then abandoned in 1951. The trail is approximately one way, and

trailhead A trailhead is the point at which a trail begins, where the trail is often intended for hiking, biking, horseback riding, or off-road vehicles. Modern trailheads often contain rest rooms, maps, sign posts and distribution centers for information ...

s exist at both ends. The trail is fairly level in most spots and could be hiked by most amateur

hiker Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

s. Points of interest include the McFee Tunnel, a bridge that spans a bay called Devils Punch Bowl, and Harrigan Point. From 2017 to 2019, the Spruce Railroad Trail was upgraded to universal accessibility standards. Some areas of the trail were paved, and widened to approximately 10 feet wide.

McFee Tunnel

The McFee Tunnel is a railroad tunnel along the Spruce Railroad Trail which was blasted during

. Prior to its renovation, the tunnel was only accessible via off-trail access points, which were difficult to reach and largely unsafe. The tunnel itself was pitch-black and contained materials from when the railroad was being built, such as old railroad ties. McFee Tunnel Entrance

Renovation

In April 2017, Bruch and Bruch Construction of Port Angeles received a $1.2 million contract to restore the 450-foot long tunnel, and widen the trail segment to roughly 12 feet. This began with blasting the south end of the tunnel, opening it from end-to-end. Debris was then cleared from the tunnel, and workers began reinforcing the inside by applying " shotcrete" to the tunnel walls. Next, a Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) wall was built around the arch pipe on the northeast entrance to the tunnel, with a facade added to represent the tunnel's original appearance. The McFee Tunnel was officially opened to the public on July 15th, 2017.

Daley-Rankin Tunnel

The Daley-Rankin Tunnel is a second, shorter railroad tunnel on the trail. Tradition has it that both tunnels were blasted closed and rendered dangerous to enter when railroad operations ceased. As part of a larger construction project that involved 10 miles of trail linked to the Olympic Discovery Trail, the Daley-Rankin Tunnel was finally reopened in late 2020. As a result, the full public trail is now open to hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, and wheelchair.

References

*http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/spruce-railroad#trailhead-map Sprucerailroadtunnel

Protected areas of Clallam County, Washington Hiking trails in Washington (state) Transportation in Clallam County, Washington {{ClallamCountyWA-geo-stub