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Day 1 - August 13, 2014
Weather: Warm and sunny with a few clouds and some haze from forest fires. Winds were light
Equipment: Most of us had mountain bikes with 45 to 55 millimeter wide tires, but a couple had hybrids with narrower, 40 millimeter wide tires. We carried spare tubes, a few tires, front and rear spokes and tools for changing flats and removing a freewheel. None of this was used but we did make use of some spare nuts and bolts, bailing wire and electrical tape to jury-rig parts that came apart under the constant pounding. We also carried a water filter, purification tablets and a UV sterilizing wand. For the tunnels we used standard bike lights or headlamps.
Trail description: Fairly consistent between the Castlegar trailhead and Fife: twin wheel ruts that provide a mostly firm track for riding but peppered with numerous small rocks (and a few larger ones) that require you to be constantly scanning the trail ahead for the smoothest ground. We found ourselves regularly changing ruts if the other one seemed to have less rocks (crossing the rocky hump between the wheel ruts caused a minor crash or two). There are also a couple of short sandy spots which made the bikes slew and bog down (and caused a minor crash or two). Grades are gentle except two spots where fill is used to replace missing trestles and the trail plunges steeply down then back up (we walked the uphills). A few of us tried riding some of the lighter tunnels but it didn't seem worth the effort so later we just walked the bikes.
Special concerns: Water. Without camping gear, we were committed to a 75 kilometer ride which took us about 8.5 hours. Most of us carried two-and-a-half to three liters of water, and we had water purification equipment with us, but we saw few easily accessible water sources other than the dripping water and small run-off creeks at the mouth of Bulldog Tunnel. Some of us were stretching out their last water during the final hour of our ride.
Wildlife: No bears sighted but we made plenty of noise: all eight bikes had bells or horns.
Other trail users One pickup truck a few kilometers west of the Castlegar trailhead―presumably trail service workers―who kindly stopped while we passed. In the middle of the Bulldog Tunnel a group of cyclists coming the other way seemed nonchalant about meeting other people in this unique location, but they were young and perhaps were more concerned about the loss of cell phone coverage beneath the Monashee Mountains. We met a few more cyclists west of the Bulldog Tunnel, who were more enthusiastic about meeting us.
Distance and elevation: Distance travelled was about 73 kilometers from the Castlegar trailhead to Fife Road and 2 kilometers down Fife Road to our motel on highway 3. The elevation at Castlegar trailhead is 460 m.a.s.l. (meters above sea level). The elevation at Farron is 1198 m.a.s.l. making our uphill portion 738 vertical meters. The elevation at Fife is about 610 m.a.s.l. making our downhill portion 588 vertical meters. We made a further drop of about 125 vertical meters on the very steep Fife Road down to Highway 3.
Average speed and time on the trail: We left the Castlegar trailhead at 7:30 AM and reached Fife at about 4:00 PM. Our speed varied greatly because we stopped a lot, especially along the scenic Lower Arrow Lake portion where it took us three hours to cycle 20 kilometers. But at other times on the 43 kilometer ascent to the Farron summit we were making 10 kilometers per hour. On the 30 kilometer descent to Fife we were occasionally much faster, at one point reaching 25 k.p.h. but overall our downhill average wasn't much faster than our uphill average, except the effort was less which was helpful during the heat of the day.
GPS tracking: We used a Garmin 910XT to record our distance and elevation. The GPS loss-of-signal inside tunnels was not compensated for by the device once we emerged from the tunnels, so distances given, especially today with its many tunnels could be off by up to a kilometer or more
Elevation profile of the trail between Castlegar and Fife (the graph scale exaggerates the actual railway grades). Elevation down Fife Road to Highway 3 is also shown
On the way to Castlegar we stopped for the night in Osoyoos and had dinner at the Nk'Mip Resort Spirit Beach Cantina
Smoke from forest fires in BC and Washington State created a thin haze that gave us a lovely sunset
Day 1 of the ride we got an early start from our overnight digs: the Flamingo Motel in Castlegar
The Columbia & Western Railway trailhead, 8.5 kilometers west of Castlegar. We left two vehicles here
Our friends Peter and Linda, with guide dog Demeris, helped transport bikes here and later drove two of us back from Midway to retrieve our vehicles
How clean we and our bikes look before our all-day ride on a dusty trail
They've kept the rails in place for a short distance along the trail, a nice homage to its former life
The trail surface is well compacted. Choose your rut: left or right (how come the other rut always looks better?)
We have our first extended break at the former Shields Station. Looks like Ann and Charlie are taking a selfie
This spectacular view back east along Lower Arrow Lake shows how far we've progressed (and climbed) from the trailhead. Castlegar lies beyond the most distant headland
One of the tunnels west of Shields
The bridge over Cub Creek about 17 kilometers west of the trailhead
Emerging from the west end of the Coykendahl Tunnel about 19 kilometers west of the trailhead
An old railway speeder displayed alongside the trail
Our last rest break along Lower Arrow Lake before the trail turns inland up the Pup Creek drainage. We've climbed about 400 vertical meters, about half of today's elevation gain between the trailhead and the summit at Farron
Looking across Lower Arrow Lake at the hamlet of Deer Park. The lake bends to the north here, running more than two hundred kilometers to Revelstoke
A missing trestle over Brooklyn Creek (a tributary of Pup Creek) is replaced by fill with a steeper gradient, so we walked
The eastern end of the Bulldog, a one kilometer long tunnel beneath Bulldog Mountain joining the Pup Creek and Dog Creek drainages. Chilled air was blowing out of the tunnel (a relief to some) and water dripped from above the entrance forming small streams on either side: it felt like we were entering the Mines of Moria in Lord Of The Rings. Look closely and you can see lights in the tunnel: people coming from the other side
Inside the Bulldog. The floor of the 912 meter long tunnel is made up of small rocks, wet from dripping water. At the western end the tunnel curves just before emerging from Bulldog Mountain, so no outside light came at us from the far end. Notice that both Pauline and Bob are still wearing their sunglasses. And we put them in the lead?
Emerging from the western end of the Bulldog after a 10 to 15 minute walk in the dark
It's still several kilometers to the summit but everyone was hot and tired so we took a trailside lunch break
After five and a half hours, 43 kilometers and 740 vertical meters of climbing (about 2 Malahats worth of elevation gain for those of us from Victoria) we reached the summit at Farron
We began our 30 kilometer downhill to Fife. Leaving the Dog Creek drainage behind we entered the narrow McRae Creek drainage (now flowing south into Christina Lake). Our speed was much faster requiring sharper concentration and more upper-body effort to dodge rocks
Charlie reads the story of the bomb that exploded aboard a CPR train at this location on October 29, 1924 killing Peter Verigin, leader of the Doukobours, and seven other people. The crime was never solved
At the former Paulson Station we rejoin civilization: after 51 kilometers of quiet wilderness, the drone of traffic on highway 3 now follows us all the way to Fife
A downed tree was easily walked under or clambered over
Above us, highway 3 crosses the narrow McRae Creek valley on this elegant bridge
Emerging from the Paulson Tunnel, last tunnel of the day
A few kilometers back the highway 3 bridge was above us. Now the highway drops below us while we stay high up on the valley wall
Somewhere between the former Coryell and Lafferty stations with Christina Lake almost in sight
This unique footbridge is very modern looking compared to the original trestles. It was erected in 2010 to span a major washout near Lafferty
Far below us highway 3 curves around English Point, an area of summer cabins along the east shore of Christina Lake. We stared enviously at the swimmers below as the last of our drinking water was being drunk
Tall fences and retaining walls keep trail users safe along this precipitous section
We reached Fife Station only to find that Fife Road―our trail exit for the day―was being repaved
After a short delay while Bob negotiated with the pavers we made our way down the smooth new asphalt to highway 3
Our first night's digs: the New Horizon Motel. We were very happy to be off our dusty steeds after so many hours in the saddle
Dinner was a short walk away at one of Fife's popular eateries: Kool Treat
After dinner we cooled off in Christina Lake
Sunset over Christina Lake
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