Loleta Train Tunnel hike

 I had recently heard about this trail...

It's in the little town of Loleta.

 I had never been too Loleta...all I knew was that they made great cheese!

 Lindsey, Donnie, Benjamin, William, Emerson and I took off, drove to Loleta, and took the 2.5 mile hike to and through the tunnel.

From here, it was a 1 mile walk to the tunnel.  The tunnel is .6 of a mile long...so I guess that means we took a 3.2 mile hike, not 2.5 mile!

 The tracks are not in use anymore...at least not by trains!

 This is maintained as a trail...

 We were headed north...

 The youngest in the group wasn't too sure about walking on these tracks...

 Not a problem...

his daddy picked him up and carried him on his shoulders until he was comfortable to walk on the tracks!

 There were blackberries all along the way....

 I wonder what they were talking about?

 I have always loved to take pictures like this...

I had a feeling that some little guy didn't want his picture taken.

 Can you see the rubber bands in Donnie's mouth?  He had gotten the heavy bars taken out and replaced with a bunch of tight rubber bands so he could just barely move his jaws. 

 Benjamin asked me to take this picture.

The boys...well, all of us had flashlights for the hike.

It is dark in the tunnel.

 Not sure what was going on here.

 I DO know what was going on here!

 This is the entrance to the tunnel!

 The graffiti is awesome!

  

 Donnie said this part in the foreground was an extension added at some time.  You can see the difference.  See the 'light at the end of the tunnel'?  Yep, that's .6 mile away.

 Here, you can't see the railroad ties.  Part of the trail was like this, but most had the ties visible.  On some parts, the ground was level with the ties, and some parts, especially in the tunnel, the ties were higher than the ground.  Without a flashlight, you could easily trip.

 Part of the charm of the tunnel for these little men was the use of the flashlight!

There are numbers and different things on the walls inside the tunnel...they loved spotting them...along with finding frogs!

 

 The trail ends at the end of the tunnel...it's all a bunch of overgrown brush at the end.

 This is at the end looking back. 

 I wanted a picture with my little men...

 Finally!

I love this!!!  Thank you, Lindsey!

 That's unrubbed-in sunscreen on Benjamin...

 Smile, William!!!

 

 After we walked back through the tunnel to head back, I took a few more shots of the entrance.

 William...he's always wanted to keep up with the older boys.

He does a great job of it, too!

 This time next year, Walt will be in a picture like this!

 We were heading back to the town of Loleta...

 heading to the cheese factory.

I can't believe I've never come here!  Their cheese is so so good!

The factory has recently been bought by some chef out of the bay area.  They're adding a restaurant now that will serve different types of grilled cheese sandwiches!

I'll be back!

Benjamin wants to hike the opposite direction.  Going south, it's a 2 mile walk to Fernbridge.  I told him we'd definitely do that one.  He's a hiker!

We'll be back!