KVR: Portia to Iago Photoset on flickr.com

May 31, 2008

On Saturday, I hiked approximately 20 km (return) on the abandoned Kettle Valley Railway right of way with 17 members of the Chilliwack Hiking Club. The day was hot and sunny. The trail started out in a southerly direction on a pipeline access road. Not too far along, the trail diverted left onto the old Kettle Valley Railway right of way along the slopes of the mountain. On this stretch we saw old retaining walls, a pretty waterfall, telegraph poles and concrete bridge piers. The we rejoined the pipeline access road and took a snack break just below the road/trail at the site of a small old log shed. Some of my fellow hikers believed that this was the site of a station of some sort for the Kettle Valley Railway. As I was sitting down, I saw a salamander of some sort scurry under a rock, but try as I might, I couldn’t find it again to take a picture.

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  Wildflowers
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  Retaining Wall
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  Waterfall
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  Avalanche Debris
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  Old log shed
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  Snack Break

At this point the trail started heading in a northerly direction, which was more or less the direction we continued until we stopped for lunch. The Coquihalla river was in the valley below us, but we were fairly high on the mountainside above it. The snow was still melting above us and there were a large number of waterfalls along this stretch. Eventually we rounded a bend and came to an old concrete snow shed. The current pipeline access road passes outside the snow shed as one end has been blocked by landslide/avalanche debris. We stopped at the snow shed for lunch before retracing our steps to the trailhead.

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  Indian Paintbrush
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  Waterfall
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  Wildflowers
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  Waterfall
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  Waterfall
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  Coquihalla river valley
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  Snow Shed

Stats: Distance: ~20 km; Elevation Loss/Gain: unknown; Hiking time: 6.5 hours including breaks.