The Cowichan Valley boasts a few relics from the not so old pioneering history. Little churches, which were built many decades ago, hide along quiet country roads. Abandoned railway beds wind their way through rural landscapes and enclaves of old growth and replanted forest. The country roads pass through a few villages and along occasional farms, crossing creeks and rivers which snake their way amongst the mountains and hills of Cowichan region.
Resting in peace now, when Fall has cooled the air. In summertime picnickers would spread their lunch on a few tables set out in the church yard with a view of long departed settlers and enjoy the restful country ambiance.
Just opposite the church a tiny park at the Koksila River Bank, commemorating one of the heroes of a by-gone era, when logging was king, and the giant trees of the valley would be turned into ships' masts, building materials, railway sleepers, bridges, mine shaft supports and docks amongst a host of other things.
Reflection of branches in the clear Koksila River, where fallen Maple Leafs line the river bottom...
Or cover the forest floor, silently changing colour...
A solid wooden bridge leads Across the River and into the Trees...
The roads turns from pavement to gravel to hard earth and narrows along a twenty kilometer access to Kinsol Trestle, recently renovated and saved from slowly rotting away.
Here it is in all it's refurbished beauty, hundreds of new heavy wooden beams have replaced the rotting timbers which made the bridge unsafe for transit. The rails are long gone, the trains have stopped ages ago. Now the bridge connects two segments of the Trans Canada Trail, the longest trail in the world. Before the re-opening of the trestle, hikers had to trudge along a 25 km detour to get to the other side of the gorge just a couple of hundred meters away.
A little history confirms, that this engineering marvel is actually the largest wooden trestle in the Commonwealth, and one of the highest in the world. Cowichan's entry into the record books...The name 'Kinsol' harks back to the time, when the bridge connected to a nearby mine proudly called King Solomon's Mines.
Koksila River at the bottom of the Gorge. The area around the bridge is fast forest land with interlacing trails for hikers and bikers
