BC: Duncan, Chemainus and the Kinsol Trestle Bridge

... at the top of the Malahat ...

Moiya, David and I want to see Vancouver Island but we haven’t established a serious set of The Ten Best Things We Want to See.

I had in mind that I wanted to see Duncan BC. Moiya and David thought it would either be fun to go to Tofino, or up to the top of the island.

So we set out for Duncan, B.C., my first choice and I guess the rest will have to come later.

We had stopped at the summit of the Malahat, though again we didn’t know what we were going to see.

I only knew a phrase from the radio like “an accident on the Malahat” but I had no idea where this road was or where it was going to.

... 2 trees lean over an old dirt road ...

We had decided just to pull over every time there was a chance to do so.

At the first look-out where we could get ourselves organized to stop, we saw Mount Baker in Washington, and the planes taking off from the Victoria Airport.

... sisters rest in a garden in Chemainus ...

Salt Spring Island was in plain view and the path that the ferry would take was charted on the information plaque.

... watching cars disembark from the ferry in Chemainus ...

Our saving grace was the Tourist Centre in Duncan for we had no idea where we were going once we got to Duncan.

High on my list was to see the BC Forest Discovery Centre which uses the same parking lot as the Tourist Centre.

But it is not open until the Easter Weekend.

The tourist centre volunteer says the BC Forest Discovery Centre has a train which runs very 20 minutes.

This outdoor museum tells about the steam powered machinery used in early logging operations in the Cowichan Valley.

I had already decided to sit on the train non-stop – well worth the $15 entry fee.

But alas, no train to be ridden today.

... the bay at Chemainus ...

Still the man at the tourist centre pulled out a list of “20 Interesting Things to Do in the Cowichan Valley” before taking us over to a display of post cards by an artist in that community.

I think his last name was Kelly.

He couldn’t make a living selling his paintings but he got an agent in Toronto to work for him who sold the paintings in Europe, the last painting of the local post office selling for 1.1 million dollars.

I went out to read a little more about the artist tonight and could remember his last name was Kelly, but I didn’t have enough information to find out more about him.

I guess I will do that on another visit.

I do know there is a local museum that holds about 17 works of his that were gifted at the end of us life.

one of the murals on a street corner at Chemainus

Oh, so much more to do in Duncan, B.C.


The guy at the Visitors Centre was thorough with us.

When Moiya said that she didn’t think she could hike a long way he showed us on the map, how to go to the Kinsol Trestle so that she would only have a short couple of bocks to walk instead of a kilometer, by the other route.

We could do this by going around some back roads: Bench to Riverside and then a gravel road which got smaller and smaller, and just when we would think we were lost and should turn around, there it would be, the parking lot that we could use.

The trestle bridges the Koksilah River.

We would have preferred a longer shot.
Here David just picks up our gnarled hands.
As well, we couldn't find a board on the bench
that wasn't covered with scat.
Add to that, Moiya trying to save me from 
sitting in the wrong place, 
almost pushed me off the bench.

The trestle went into disrepair and a massive community effort began to find funds to repair it: 7.1 million dollars which made every step across the bridge feel like quite a treasure to me.

David said maybe that was the best part of the trip today, the pictures and signs that show the history of the bridge, and pictures of old trains going across it filled with logs being taken to the mills.

I loved the sound of the water rushing in the canyon and I could imagine the salmon running up against the rapids below us.

Lower Left: family picnics with red table cloth

The Trans-Canada Trail rims Shawinigan Lake and then cross the trestle, moving northward.

festive tourist look at Cheaminus

We saw walker, runners, a man biking with his child bouncing behind him in a 3 wheel-cart.

An old woman was walking an even older dogs, at least if I could judge which one was going faster than the other.

One family had descended from the bridge, half way down the hill to a picnic table on which they laid a crimson table cloth and then pulled out their picnic basket.

Moiya asked me tonight if I thought we would every be able to find the charming side road off of the Trans-Canada Highway, the one that began when we turned right onto Herd Road.

The one where we thought we were lost most of the time.

Of course that made me laugh for the road was hilly, down into charming glens, then up hills again, traversing the side of a hill where there were charming houses both above and below us, steep driveways on either side.

Moiya and Arta on bridge

Beehives lined the back of one large field. Slash was piled high in another, in fact three high piles of slash which we thought were much higher than the burning restrictions would allow.

When we stopped to check our map, and try the gps, neither of which strategies were working for us, there was a big sign in front of us.

For sale / free run / corn fed / NGO duck and chicken eggs.

I wonder now why we didn’t go in and buy some, but we were so busy trying not to be lost.

Duncan is famous for the outdoor totems poles.

David and Arta wave hello

We selected the totems to studying that are near the railroad track – two groupings of 4 each.

It takes a lot of time to study the totem poles, to go from plaque to figure and then figure back to place.

I don’t know the symbols for raven and bald eagle since their wings or their legs might look the same to me on a totem pole; nor do I notice that often whale has his great tail swirl around and come back in front of him.

And what makes it harder is the tale is called a fluke, and not knowing that, I am trying to figure out what fluke means.

Some of the poles were painted. Some were natural.

A couple of the poles were transformation poles. All of the poles told a story.

I had memories of neew stories about whales – I can’t remember where I heard them -- probably from listening to new stories Rebecca was telling.

We ate in the park before studying the totems.

The sun went behind the clouds and a wind made us grab our coats while we sat on a bench and ate a late lunch out of our picnic basket.

Cowichan means warm land, or more precisely warm sun on my back, so I was wondering where that sudden shadow had come from that came over us and why.

I was getting tired of the work I was doing on the totem poles. Tourism is hard work.

There is a lot to learn on reaching any one of today’s destinations.

And just reaching the destination is hard work when it is the first time any one of us have been there.

And we make it triply hard by not knowing where we want to go to begin with.

I have known tonight, that if I don’t write an account of today, it will begin to merge with what we do tomorrow, and I won’t be able to find time to write about either adventure.

... we found the short trail to the trestle ...

It will be sufficient to say that Moiya and I also managed two trips to Costco today – one on the way out of town and one on the way back into town, and still we had time to spare, though not enough time to get blogged how much fun we really had.

Just a great beginning to a wonderful island adventure.

Even seeing all of the rock outcroppings as we drive the main streets of Victoria is an overwhelming tourist vision.

Arta