Hiking the Kinsol Trestle, Vancouver Island, BC

Kinsol Trestle

This past weekend involved a trip up to Vancouver Island, British Columbia for a flyball tournament. My original plan involved going up a few days early and staying an extra day or two, and spending that time hiking on the island.

Unfortunately, that didn't end up working out, and I went up on Friday, arriving late in the evening, and took the last ferry home on Sunday (arriving home a little after 4 am on Monday morning).

Trail head signpost 

With that, we did manage to get in one hike on Saturday afternoon after racing was done for the day. Just a 15 or so minute drive from the flyball venue is a rather famous hike to the Kinsol Trestle, which is a very old wooden railroad trestle bridge, which has been converted to a walking trail. The curve of the bridge, as well as the size, makes it unique.

On the bridge. 

The hike is only about 1 km from the parking lot to the bridge, and it is relatively flat, and a very smooth, wide path. The hike is very easy, though you can add length by hiking further along the trail past the trestle or by doing what we did, which is take the steep, winding path below the trestle down to the river.

Part way to the river

The bridge railings were offset somewhat from the actual surface of the bridge, which made it too dangerous to try to get the dogs anywhere near the railing. Large dogs would be less of a concern, but the gap was certainly large enough that Ptera could fall through. The on the bridge section of this was absolutely leashes required.

Love the curve of the trestle

Once we were on the path headed under the bridge to the river, there were fewer people. The path winds back and forth through the forest on either side of the bridge, going under the bridge in two different places with picnic tables set up for a lunch.

If you zoom in on this photo, you can see the cobwebs on Ptera's head

I wanted to try to get some photos of Ptera with the bridge that showed the wooden construction as well as the size and scale of the bridge. Ptera is only 10 lbs, so you can get an idea of how massive this bridge is.

With the cement base of the trestle

If you make it to this hike, I do recommend taking the path down to the river if you can, as it is gorgeous, and offers great opportunities for photos.

Blue sky peaking through

Obviously the trestle is not for climbing on, and signs will remind you not to climb on the trestle at regular intervals. Ptera was never far above the ground and was always placed carefully on her perch until she felt solid.

Really, really tall

In the end, this ended up being a great hike. If I only did one for the weekend, this was a good choice.

At the river