Grand Forks to Midway

Day 3 - August 15, 2014

Weather: Rain overnight; cloudy for much of the day; clearing later.

Trail description: The trail between Grand Forks and Midway is like a shorter version of the Castlegar to Fife section: all uphill for 23 kilometers then downhill for the remaining 30 kilometers. The landscape has a dual nature too, forested and rocky as the trail climbs up the side of the Granby River valley towards the summit at Eholt, then becoming a mixture of tame farmland and scattered trees, descending into full-blown grassland as the trail nears Midway. The trail surface for a kilometer or two past Grand Forks Station is like riding over dirt moguls, carved likely by ATVs and dirt bikes, but as the trail climbs up the side of the valley the surface improves and becomes the familiar twin ruts, compacted and rocky. A few kilometers east of Eholt the trail joins an active logging road with a slight washboard surface. After Eholt the trail descends across highway 3 into pastureland and the surface is less defined and consistent, sometimes grassy, sometimes shaded (we had mud puddles from the previous night's rain) and one short section is like a dry rocky creek bed. The highway crossing near Greenwood is a surprise as you emerge from the pine forest to find yourself high above the road. We walked down the rough switchback, then up the steep trail on the further side. South of Greenwood the trail dips and climbs occasionally like any farm track but always returns to railway grade.

Wildlife: Our token bear for this trip, a juvenile, ran at full tilt across the wide logging road portion of the trail near Eholt. North of Greenwood a single llama sat on the trail and watched us pass.

Other trail users One other cyclist. Some ATV riders exiting the trail near Greenwood.

Distance and elevation: Distance travelled on the trail was about 52 kilometers. Grand Forks Station is about 530 m.a.s.l. (meters above sea level). The summit at Eholt is 940 m.a.s.l., making our uphill portion 410 vertical meters over 23 kilometers. Beyond Eholt the trail drops to 600 m.a.s.l. (340 vertical meters) over the 30 kilometer descent to Midway, although the downhill grade varies more than that of the uphill portion.

Average speed and time on the trail: We left the our motel in Grand Forks at 7:45 AM and reached Midway at 4:00 PM. Our average moving speed was 11.7 k.p.h.

GPS tracking: We used a Garmin 910XT to record our distance and elevation.

Elevation profile of the trail between Grand Forks and Midway (the graph scale exaggerates the actual railway grades)

Grand Forks Station, now a pub, is probably the best-preserved former station we've seen on our C&W-KV railway journeys

About five kilometers from Grand Forks the trail is bordered by numerous folk art pieces, typically made from rock and bits of rusty metal that were once part of the railway infrastructure: bolts, spikes, hooks

More art...

Still more art...

A memorial marker sits above the trail. It says: "Wayne's Rock - He is away - Our memories remain forever as keepsakes in our hearts"

Hay fields in the Granby River valley

The rocky trail climbs higher along the valley wall

A short break next to some more trail art: the classic stacked rocks

The Granby River valley bottom is now far below us

Up ahead is Fisherman Station with its red shed and beyond it, just visible, the first of two tunnels today

Chark was one of the first to arrive at the Fisherman shed. It is sometimes hard to keep up with our oldest rider, and harder to believe he's 77

Looking back at our progress up the Granby valley

Ann and Charlie at the Fisherman shed

Entering the tunnel near Fisherman

Emerging from the second tunnel: the final tunnel of our trip

A few kilometers from the summit the trail merges with a logging road that has a slight washboard surface. Traffic could be heard through the trees on our left as we entered the Eholt Creek valley and converged with highway 3

We welcomed the four trailing riders to the summit at Eholt. Moments ago, they watched a young black bear charge across the road in front of them so they were looking very pleased with themselves

Just past Eholt Station someone has hung all these bicycles on the fence

The first trail crossing of highway 3

We enter the farmland along Eholt Creek, now heading southwest towards Greenwood

I'm not the only one taking pictures as Jim points his camera back at me

We make our way down the valley...

...and sometimes we are in the middle of someone's pasture

This little llama sat on the trail and calmly watched us roll by. Other larger llamas, fortunately behind fences, were highly agitated with our presence

The second crossing of highway 3, formerly by trestle, is now a steep downhill switchback to the highway. The concrete tunnel was once used by road traffic to pass under the railway trestle

The eastern end of the trestle sat in this notch above the old road tunnel (now a canvas for graffiti artists)

After crossing highway 3 we walked up the steep trail to regain the railway bed. The tall mound once supported the western end of the wooden trestle

We stopped for a break at the Deadwood Junction coffee shop in Greenwood

Chark and Ann on the Western-themed porch at Deadwood Junction

South of Greenwood the trail has a few non-railway grade dips and bumps that caused a bit of walking

As the trail approaches Midway the landscape becomes drier and the trees thin out

Pauline leads Chark, riding slow after trying to head-butt a pine tree, and losing

The trail descends at a leisurely grade while highway 3 rolls up and down

Midway comes into view as we round the last corner

Jim and Barb follow us in to the finish line at the former Midway Station

Mile 0, meeting place of the the Columbia & Western Railway and the Kettle Valley Railway trails

The next morning while the vehicles were being retrieved we walked around Midway. The red building is the Midway Museum: another beautifully restored former station

It's time to rejoin the real world. Charlie and Chark read the news outside our motel rooms in Osoyoos

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