Sheltowee Trace- Day 28- O&W Railroad

  We had to change plans before we even got very far out of the campground this morning. A semi-trailer was trying to come down the switchbacks on 297, went off the edge and managed to block both lanes of the road. We were able to turn around, but the only way to get to our planned starting location added 61 miles to the drive! We jumped ahead a day instead. I know I said we weren't going to do that, but I guess I lied.

The feature of the day was ending at the Oneida and Western Railroad Bridge. Oneida & Western ran from Oneida to Jamestown, Tennessee, carrying coal, lumber, mail, groceries and passengers. From the size of the rock cuts they had to make (the road to the bridge is on the old railroad bed), it cost a LOT to build. It began operation in the 1920s, and the final run was in 1954. Most of the profit was made in the early years

Interestingly, the reporting mark is O&W, which confused me. Every rail line has to have a unique reporting mark. There is a rail line in Ohio that interacts with the North Country Trail in a few places. But I guess it is OR&W- Ohio River and Western. And in New York, the Ontario and Western is NYO&W.

This bridge is now primarily used by trails, although cars are still allowed to cross it.

The next snafu is that my camera did not take any pictures for reasons unknown. I just checked it and it's fine. Maybe the SD card wasn't seated right. So Doug took all the pictures I'm showing today.

The nice news is that almost all of today was downhill, and the treadway was mostly good.

One of the highlights (and high point in elevation) was views from the top of a hill that apparently has no name. This cliff is on the other side of Falls Creek

But if you looked off into the distance, you could see the Big South Fork out there.

One of the oddest, and maybe saddest things, was this single grave for Archie Smith. He was born in 1932 and died when he was 5 months old. You can only get to the grave by hiking, but someone is keeping his memory alive.

It's been a while since I've done a picture like this. Just fun!

We also saw two young copperheads, and a large black rat snake.

Now I've struggled with transferring pictures as much as I want to. Tomorrow we will fill in the missing piece and Saturday... I finish!

Miles walked in 2026: 624.7
Sheltowee Trace miles: 296

Sheltowee Trace, Tennessee. Bandy Creek Campground to O&W Railroad Bridge. 10.6 miles

See Sheltowee Trace- Wading the Big South Fork