I found the Kahlotus Railroad Tunnel on Google maps while searching for trailheads to explore. If you approach Kahlotus, WA via WA State Hwy 260, turn south onto Spokane Ave and travel roughly 1/2 a mile outside town. There will be a pullout on the left side of the road where you can park and access the trail. If you pass the sign indicating that there is a left hand turn for Windust, you have gone too far. Accessing the parking spot is easy enough for anyone, but this trail is most definitely not handicap accessible. I did find an article online that a dude wrote about taking a couple days on 4″ wide tired mountain bikes, so it does appear that biking the trail is feasible. It is advised to go east from Pasco, WA up to Spokane, WA if you choose to do this because the winds are far worse than the grade for slowing you down and making the effort of the trip more difficult.

The first thing you see when departing the parking area and dropping down onto the trail, when you look southwards, is the first tunnel that you get to pass through. This tunnel is not horribly long or dark, but a headlamp or flashlight is probably recommended. The whole trail is comprised of 2-3″ coarse ground basalt rock and being able to see where you are walking would probably help avoid any injury straight-away. I would advise staying to the center of the trail, because the drop off on the sides is quite significant if you are not expecting it.

Exiting the tunnel and going around a large corner gives you a great view of the canyon that you are walking in. It also shows you just how unshaded this trail is going to be. If you do this in the summer, I would advise packing lots of water. You could walk down to Devils Bench just above Lower Monumental Dam and spend the night camping there if you were ready to call it a day, or press onward to Windust Park, which would be about 3 more miles of walking. Neither of these locations has water outside of the Snake River tho, so filtration might be your only option.
Hiking this trail straight through presents a lot of logistical challenges from what I can see. As camping is not allowed on the trail, you would need to find other ways to camp in the small towns or nearby recreational sites, which decrease in frequency the closer to the middle of the trail you get. It seems that the best way to explore this trail is via single day excursions, departing from available trailheads, just walking what you can and arranging for a pickup, or treating it as an out and back hike. I do think that the section between Benge, WA and Lamont, WA looks interesting because of the close proximity to lakes and such, but that also looks to be a pretty long stretch of at least twenty five miles and I know shade in that section of WA is hard to come by.

After traveling through Tunnel 16, which is almost a third of a mile long, I was greeted with the site of Lower Monumental Dam and Devils Bench. There are six primitive campsites, a vault toilet, a dumpster, and a boat launch available at this site. I did not see a fee structure for the campsites, but they are first come, first serve and wood fires are not allowed. It was at this point that I decided to turn around and head back to the car. Another option would have been to walk down to the highway and return that way. This would be an easier walk, but would have also mean traversing the grade that takes you out of Devils Canyon.

Overall, I have to admit that this part of Washington is not terrifically pretty. It relies on the rock formations or clouds for ambiance that helps to create beauty. For those who appreciate geology, I think there are several interesting features along this part of the trail that make the hike worth it. For those that do not care about the rocks, there is still some semblance of solitude on the trail that can be appreciated. I did not see a whole lot of wildlife, but I did see a large whitetail buck running up the hill several hundred yards away from me. It was November when I did this hike, and the weather has been taking a turn towards cold, so perhaps most of the other animals have taken refuge for the winter. I would expect to see rattlesnakes on this trail in the summer, so please keep that in mind if doing this hike in the heat of the year. I would strongly suggest doing it in the shoulder seasons tho, to avoid the heat and lack of shade.

The best source of outside information that I have found is here: https://parks.wa.gov/find-parks/state-parks/columbia-plateau-state-park-trail

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