The Tunnel Drive Trail is an out-and-back hiking trail located in
Cañon City, Colorado
Cañon City ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The city p ...
. The trail parallels and overlooks the
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...
and the
Royal Gorge Route Railroad
The Royal Gorge Route Railroad is a heritage railway, heritage railroad based in Cañon City, Colorado. A 1950s-era train makes daily 2-hour excursion runs from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Santa Fe train station, Depot through the R ...
. Popular with locals, the trail starts just inside the Cañon City city limits and then, crossing out of the city, it goes on State of Colorado and
BLM land.
Original use
The trail was originally the site of a wooden irrigation canal that also supplied water to Cañon City. It was built in the late nineteenth-century and was called the redwood stave irrigation pipeline. The city stopped using the canal in 1974.
The canal passed through three tunnels cut out of the granite cliff on the north side of the trail. The trail now passes through the tunnels, one of which is quite long.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official trail map
Hiking trails in Colorado
Tourist attractions in Colorado
Cañon City, Colorado