The Senator Gordon Smith tunnel for deer!

Typically I try to use the outdoors to transcend the inanities of urban life, and usually 30 miles of rough terrain is enough to shield me from reminders of how ironic our existence can be. But this morning, the ridiculous efforts of mankind intruded into my private reverie more than once.

This morning I set out to explore whether there was a viable route from the trail that crosses over the top of US 26 down to the defunct railroad that runs from Buxton to Tillamook. The route that I used to travel south from US 26 crosses over this railroad line as it passes through the Walcott tunnel under Ridge Road – a minor dirt road accessible from Strassel road. My idea was that the southern walking route to the coast would be much improved if I could use the Tillamook Railroad route to get all the way to Cochran – thus avoiding the intervening mountain. It was worth a through bushwhacking extravaganza, I thought.

Loki and I hiked down the slope towards the abandoned railroad line using an old logging road and a subsequent skidder track that eventually petered out about 2/3 of the way down the slope. In vain we tried to reach the railroad track but the brush strewn slope was simply too thick and steep to navigate – especially for Loki whose legs cannot penetrate the piled branches underfoot. Eventually we had to back track a half mile and then follow an elk trail across Castor Creek and up a steep slope on the other side to reach the old railroad line.

"Senator Gordon Smith Tunnel" to nowhere?

This line originally completed in 1911 by the Pacific Railway & Navigation Company line hasn’t been used since the storms of 2007 wiped out a number of trestles and bridges as it passes through the coast range. Today no commercial traffic runs along this line, and even hikers are scarce on this portion of the line. Judging from the tracks, only the elk and deer vie for the use of this portal. Mine were the only human tracks to be seen.

So imagine my surprise when I see a sign hanging from a stump above the tunnel proudly proclaiming this the Senator Gordon Smith Tunnel.

Talk about a tunnel to nowhere!

I can only imagine what sums were spent to refurbish this tunnel, with concrete blasted all along the interior of this 1/4 mile tunnel. And today no one uses this tunnel except the animals that traverse this muddy subterranean route from the Tualatin watershed to the Nehalem watershed.

Of course, there was no way that the venerable Senator could have known that nature would undercut his colossal  monument. The sad futility still clearly evident on that battered wooden sign put me in mind to recall Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem, Ozymandias. “Oh yes, look on my Senatorial achievements and despair, ye mighty!”

Loki’s response to the awe inspiring signage was perhaps less skeptical as he promptly prostrated himself in the closest mud puddle and began lapping up the brown liquid with gusto! No doubt he was fortifying himself for the prospect of the lone and level sands that stretched far away on the far side of the tunnel…

But on the far side of this tunnel, we encountered quite a different demonstration of that human striving to leave an image of our passing. As Loki and I sought to find a viable route back, we wandered northwards  looking for routes through the thick and steep vegetation. This was hardly the promised “lone and level sands”, but it was no less formidable!

Rocks perched on a lifeless leg of wood...

Eventually, I navigated the twisting elk trails up to a remote skidder track that soon evolved into a rudimentary logging road. All around stood thickets of brash alders trying to compete with the adolescent fir trees that would soon tower overhead. But standing out amongst this welter of new growth was a lifeless leg of wood that had been left as a mute testimonial to that universal urge to leave our mark. An urge not limited to the powerful, but even afflicting the whimsical log loader who left his autograph in the form of large rocks perched on a pedestal of wizened wood. This time, I found myself smiling alongside the anonymous sculptor.

Historical note: Tunnel # 1,  eight and one-half miles out of Buxton is the longest tunnel of the 13 built along the Pacific Railway & Navigation Company Line (11 alone were built along the Salmonberry) at 1,435 feet in length. It took eight months to excavate the 24,150 cubic yards of rock and earth that were hauled away by hand truck from this tunnel – that’s the equivalent of 2,415 ten yard dump trucks! The refurbishment of that tunnel was a mere picnic by comparison.