Kinsol Trestle is a pretty amazing historical sight near Duncan, in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island. It is a super tall wooden trestle bridge that was built as part of the Galloping Goose railway line (what a name!) to transport timber and forestry products in the early 20th century. This is one of the tallest free-standing timber rail trestle structures in the world; It’s 44m (144ft) high, and 188m (617ft) long.

The bridge is in a gorgeous location that you can reach with a short walk.  If you are at all interested in impressive feats of engineering, or the history of British Columbia, you’ll love it.

Kinsol Trestle map

There are several different way to reach the trestle – this option is the shortest.

Kinsol Trestle – the basics

Distance: 2.5km from Riverside road OR 3.1km from the main parking lot.
Elevation Gain: Minimal if you walk on the trestle. 80m if you hike down to the base and back up again.
Time: 30 mins- 1 hour
Cost: Free
What to bring: As always the 10 essentials.
Facilities: There are drop toilets along with an information board on the north side.
Dogs: Dogs are allowed on a lead.
How hard is it? Super Easy.

Kinsol Trestle – Getting started

There are quite a few possible trails to Kinsol Trestle. The 2 closest trailheads are the end of Riverside Road (to the north) or the main Kinsol Trestle parking lot (to the south) on Glen Eagles Road. We decided to go via Riverside Road because it is a shorter walk, but I’ll give the details for both as the main parking lot is slightly less of a drive.

History of Kinsol Trestle

This trestle was built as part of a railway to help transport timber from the local old growth forests. Although the trestle was designed by engineers, it was built by 55 local farmers and loggers. This was funded by Canadian Western Lumber Company, which was the largest lumber company in the world at the time. Construction began in 1911, but with interruptions such as WWI, it was not completed until 1920. The new railway was then used by both passenger and freight trains for several decades. As trucks began to replace railways for hauling logs on Vancouver Island in the 1950s, the railway became less important. The last train rolled over the trestle in 1979.

The rails were removed in the early 1980s, which started the deterioration of the structure. Vandalism, encroaching vegetation and then fires made it worse, until the government wanted to tear the whole thing down. In 2006, the B.C. Ministry of Transportation announced that the trestle would be dismantled.

Saving the trestle

The rehabilitation of the Kinsol Trestle was a community-driven effort. It started with a feasibility study in 2007 to determine if restoring the trestle was even possible. They drilled hundreds of test holes as part and (luckily) found that 80% of the major timbers were still sound. The restoration involved replacing dodgy timbers, reinforcing eight structural piers, and building a new walkway along the top. The project also included landscaping improvements, a trail into the Koksilah gorge, and information kiosks.

The restoration cost $7.5 million, with a large chunk of that ($7 million) raised by community based fundraising as well as donations from community members and organizations. The restored trestle opened in 2011, and is now part of the Trans-Canada Trail and the Cowichan Valley trail. 300,000 people visit this amazing trestle each year, so it has been a great success in bringing people (like us!) to the area.

This is what the trestle looks like from above. There is a viewing platform to give you a great view of the famous seven-degree curve. The walkway feels very stable and safe (even if you are not keen on heights, there is room to stay away from the edge.)

Of course, if you don’t mind heights, some of the best views are over the edge, where you can see the fantastic woodwork of those original famers and loggers that built the structure.

I loved looking down into Koksilah gorge, and seeing the trestle’s shadows on the surrounding scenery.

This is the view from the south side of the trestle – there is a path that takes you just below the main walkway.

Once you have walked over the trestle (and back) there are more trails that wiggle their way down to the base of the structure. There are even picnic benches down here if you need a beautiful spot to eat lunch.

You can explore right up to the Koksilah river and stand by the concrete base of the bridge.

Further reading:

If you liked learning about this cool nugget of Vancouver Island history, this is where I found information about Kinsol Trestle:

• Once rejected Kinsol Trestle now a resurrected Vancouver Island must-see; This post is fantastic – it has loads of details about the history and the reconstruction efforts. 
• Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards Submission; This has information about how the trestle was restored, with great photos.
• Details from the registry of Canada’s Historical Places; Great for basic details as well as further links.

Heading back

Once you have explored around the trestle, just return the way you came. Or, if you’d like to keep going for longer, you can extend the trail along the river via the Jack Fleetwood trail. Or you can head toward Bonaza Bluffs via the Fern Grotto trail. There are plenty of fun sounding routes in this area for hiking, cycling and even for horse riding.

I was excited to see Kinsol Trestle after spotting photographs online, but the reality was better than I imagined! Then when researching for this post, I was even more impressed by the history (that it was built by local farmers and loggers) and that the community here had worked so hard to save and preserve it from demolition. This is a fantastic historical sight, located within pleasant forests AND it is super easy to reach. Hopefully that convinced you to visit next time you’re on Vancouver Island!