A new way to do the "Currently" items.

In an effort to streamline the process and make it easier to 'keep up', I'm changing the format.  The funny thing is that its the same format I started out with, back when the "picture pages" were pretty much what the "Currently pages" are now.

So, they won't look as fancy, but they'll be faster to generate, and manage, which will mean they'll likely be more of them...

One thing I've been meaning to do is take a walk through the Snoqualmie Tunnel, which is an old train tunnel that at one time was the only way a train could get into the Pass.  It was closed in the 1970's, after a much longer tunnel eliminated the need for trains to navigate the pass at all, which made train travel to the east much safer and easier.

The tunnel is 2.7 miles long, and I was looking forward to seeing the bridge I was told was at the other side by a former co-worker who'd made the trek earlier.  Since my cousin is also up for doing new things, and into history, we both were looking forward to the jaunt through the tunnel, curious as to what we'd find while walking through the darkness.

We picked up a couple of flashlights, and a couple of Chemical Lights ("glo-sticks"), and headed out on our mini-adventure.

A information kiosk gave a brief history of the starting point.  It used to be a train depot, but now all that remains is a concrete pad.  The train used to haul the younger folks from Seattle up to the mountains for some alpine fun... I liked the Accordion -- seems the definition of "Fun" has changed over the years.

After a short walk, we came up on the entrance to the Tunnel.

The tunnel took 2 years to build.  It was completed in 1914, and was used until the 1970's.

Heading into the tunnel, we realized one thing: we were walking into a fairly stiff breeze that was wafting through the tunnel... and it was COLD!

Not far from the opening, a considerable amount of water was falling...

Every 10th mile or so, there was a recessed area with some sort of box contraption mounted on the wall.  They were in different states of repair, and made for an interesting pause.  They also served as a break from the breeze.

Expansion and contraction of these pipes has paid its toll on the concrete surrounding them...

Some of the wells had interesting contraptions in them...

We couldn't figure out what some of the parts were for... it was pretty interesting, though.

It was interesting to see the old-style connectors and fuze banks.

This box had the fuse banks labelled.. "110" (Volts?), "COM" (Communications?), "360 HD", "295 HD1", "ZDP". 
All part of the intrigue

Along the wall, there were notes painted here and there... most were graffiti, but sometimes, they seemed "official"

Here's the splice it was referring to...

at one point, the tunnel walls seemed to be misaligned... is this were the two sides met?

This well had some insulators, but no box...

Distance, we assumed... it was about right, from where we were

This was a modern-looking junction box... yep, that's my breath showing up in the flash... it was COLD!

The little dot of white over my cousin's shoulder is the "light at the end of the tunnel"...
we were DEEP under the mountain =]

The night vision on my video camera picked up the scene pretty well, especially with the flashlights helping out...

Nearing the opening...

Just inside the opening, water rushed in through a hole in the wall... it sure made a racket!

Heading out of the tunnel into the light.  It was cloudy, but it sure looked bright out to us!

The other side of the tunnel has a maintenance shed.  There seemed to be tracks heading into the shed area.  Maybe they had a car parked there that they could run through the tunnel.

The first thing I noticed is that the bridge my former coworker told me about wasn't there, leading me to think that he hadn't actually been there after all.

The power line followed the tunnel's path, it looked like, only up over the mountain instead of through it.

I did notice a large bridge on the Highway in the valley below us... maybe that was the bridge he was talking about?

.

We sat for a bit, warming up a bit before heading back.

We noticed a more detailed information sign...

... and we then noticed the "50" marker on the side of the archway to the tunnel.

The entry way was pretty impressive.

This phone sign didn't lead to anything.  there was a cast iron box with an old AT&T symbol, but it was empty.

we did notice this... 15,000 volts... I guess that warning on the junction box was for this line.

heading back into the tunnel, we noticed that more light made it in on this side than it did on the other side.  We also were walking with the wind, so while it wasn't "Warm", it was much more comfortable than it had been going the other way.

Before too long, it was dark again... the night vision picked up the light at the end pretty early on, though... as well as the markers along the sides.

It seemed to be a much shorter walk back, but then again, we weren't stopping to look at everything that caught our attention, either...

Heading out of the tunnel, we ended our 5 and a half mile walk through the darkness.

On the way down from the Pass, we took the 'old road', built in 1905.  I'm sure it was reworked a couple of times, though!

Its a great drive down out of the mountains, and a great ending to a fun and interesting outing.

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