After doing my hike on the Hobart-Middle Tiger Railroad Trail, I had hiked the Connector Trail down to the Grand Canyon-15 Mile Creek Trail (see my other report for that trek) to hike this trail. I saw that the DNR had installed two new bridges. One is located just south of where the Connector Trail meets up with the 15 Mile Creek Trail. This trail is a former railroad grade used doing the coal mining days. I headed north going past the remains of the coal washery building cement concrete foundation. Further up the trail I came to the other new DNR bridge that replaced the old wooden one that had fallen apart several years ago. The new one is a steel truss design built by Continental Bridge in 2023 but not installed until this year. It would have been flown in via a heavy lift helicopter. It has a 1,000 lb. point load and a 90 PSF live load, so any hiker can go across it!
I then hiked to the end of the trail on the old railroad grade to the viewpoint where you can see the water of 15 Mile Creek roaring down some waterfalls. There is a bench located here. This area was also the location of the former coal mine coal loading facility where railroad coal cars would be loaded from the mining operation above. You can hike up to the coal mine entrance (now closed off) on a side trail.
Did not see any other hikers on this trail. Good to see that the DNR installed the two new bridges that replaced the old wood ones. At the trailhead by the West Side Road, I saw that the bicycle stand had fallen down even through there is a sign for bike riders to leave their bikes there and hike the trail. This trail used to by an ADA trail before the West Side Road was gated off at Tiger Summit from Highway 18. Keep on hikin', George
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