A railway history day at Myra Canyon, BC
One of the highlights of the Okanagan Valley for anyone with an interest in history has to be the Myra Canyon section of the former Kettle Valley Railway. Now a hiking and biking trail, this 12-kilometer section of the rail line has 18 trestles and 2 tunnels, and the scenery is spectacular. The Myra Canyon Trestle Restoration Society has an excellent Web site that describes the history and the massive restoration projects – the initial one and the even larger one that followed the destruction of many trestles by forest fires in 2003.
Climbing a road with views like this, what would you expect to find at the top? A mine, a cattle ranch, a logging show perhaps? Certainly not a railway!
Very soon after leaving the parking lot, the trail/railway goes through this very impressive rock cut. The day was gorgeous but very cold, with the temperature sitting well below freezing all day.
Interpretation along the rail line is very good. Among the many signs is this collection of photos from the 2003 fires.
Looking north at Trestle #11, 132 meters long. My brother-in-law had never hiked the entire 12 km trail and my sister and daughter weren’t interested in hiking the whole distance, so the women hiked 3km, walked back to the cars and then drove around to the south end of the trail to pick us up 🙂 That worked out great, because while I really wanted to see the entire trail, I wasn’t up to hiking 24 km!!
Looking north at Trestle #10, 59 meters long, and an 84-meter-long tunnel.
Near the southern end of the line we got a good view of the Kelowna airport area.
Later in the day my daughter and I took the girls down to the playground at the beach. I love this spot.
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