Myra Canyon dubbed best stretch of country's Trans Canada Trail

Photo: J.P. Squire

The Myra Canyon section of the former Kettle Valley Railway has 16 wood trestles, two steel spans and two rock tunnels in the 12 kilometres between the Myra and Ruth stations south of the city of Kelowna.

The spectacular Myra Canyon section of the former Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) is, according to Michael Haynes, author of The Best of The Great Trail, the best part of the 28,000-kilometre Trans Canada Trai—the longest network of multi-use recreational trails in the world.

This summer, visitors will discover a major improvement as part of a $1.6-million investment by B.C. Parks. Cabin Operations Ltd. just completed re-decking of all 18 trestles, while widening their decks to go from railing to railing. Since 2008, only the middle part of the trestles had decking, with the exposed timbers on both sides making it challenging for walking or pushing a bike while passing other visitors. Also, in May, two new pit toilets were installed at Myra Station parking lot which will be expanded.

The Sheriff has described Myra Canyon as the ultimate combination of man-made marvel and Mother Nature at her finest. Its 16 wood trestles, two huge steel spans and two rock tunnels precariously hang on the edge of a deep canyon, with panoramic views of Okanagan Lake and the city of Kelowna below.

And it's popular. The 2023 visitor counts for Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park were: Myra Station, 24,380, Ruth Station, 7,638 and Stewart Road East, 22,104.

The Sheriff has had a 40-year love affair with Myra. In so many respects, his recreational and journalistic history in the Okanagan is mirrored in its modern history.

May 1980: He was hired as senior reporter at The Kelowna Daily Courier, just as the CPR began removing rails and ties from Midway to Penticton and turning the right-of-way over to the province.

He wrote numerous stories as the non-profit Kettle Valley Railway Heritage Society in Kelowna tried unsuccessfully to raise $10 million to buy the rails and ties to establish a tourist train attraction similar to the Kettle Valley Steam Railway in Summerland.

Photo: Contributed

This Myra Canyon trail map illustrates that this 12-kilometre route between Myra and Ruth stations is like three fingers of a hand with major trestles at the fingertips over KLO and Pooley Creeks. The canyon also has the only S-shaped trestle in Canada. Trestles 1 and 18 are 8.5 kilometres apart.

Several society members owned “speeders,” a railroad maintenance cart powered by a one-cylinder engine, which sounds like "putt-putt-putt." The Sheriff was lucky as he became one of the last people to ride the original rails. As they smoothly click-click-clicked over the steel rail junctions, the Sheriff thought: "This is the way this incredible canyon and ‘McCulloch's Wonder’ are meant to be experienced."

He rode his Honda CB750K motorcycle up Myra and Little White forest service roads to report on CP's removal of rails and ties but couldn't figure out why his street bike kept stalling. It turns out those roads were so bumpy potholes shook the acid out of the battery.

After that, the Sheriff in his red Land Rover, and many others, began driving through the canyon, thump-thump-thumping over the trestles until vandals started throwing their timbers over the side creating huge gaps.

From 1993 to 1995: After the provincial government considered closing the canyon due to serious injuries suffered by those attempting to cross the trestles, the Myra Canyon Trestle Restoration Society (MCTRS) was established. Volunteers spent three summers using donated lumber to nail down decking and attach handrails to all 18 spans.

May 10, 1994: As improvements proceeded, 26-year-old Kelowna cyclist Carol Faye Fingler fell to her death from a trestle that had yet to yet to be improved. The Sheriff—tears in his eyes—took a photo of her bike, its front wheel twisted, as her body was carried off the trestle. A memorial cairn, decorated with flowers and a bicycle helmet, marked the spot.

January 2003: In a stroke of unknowing genius, the MCTRS convinced the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada to designate Myra as a place of national historic significance.

Mid-August 2003: A lightning strike in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park sparked a massive wildfire that destroyed 12 wooden trestles and damaged the two steel spans (as well burning down more than 220 homes in nearby Kelowna).

2004 to 2008: The 12 trestles were rebuilt and two steel spans re-timbered, all with decks and handrails, with $17.5 million in mostly-federal funding (as a national heritage site) and a provincial grant (to use B.C. wood).

June 22, 2008: The Sheriff donned a top hat and tails to play the role of CPR president Sir Thomas Shaughnessy at the official opening of Myra Canyon.

November 2017: MCTRS was awarded the B.C. Parks' 2016 Volunteer Group of the Year Award.

There are two accesses to the Myra Canyon, the east end, via Myra Station is located 24 kilometres from downtown Kelowna, a 40-minute drive up Myra forest service road off McCulloch Road, and the west end, via Ruth Station (named after one of chief design/construction engineer Andrew McCulloch's daughters), up June Springs Road and the Little White forest service road.

McCulloch creatively hung the highest KVR section, at an elevation of 1,280 metres, on the sides of a steep canyon less than a kilometre wide using nearly 11 kilometres of track. Completed in 1914, he commented that he had never seen a railway built in such difficult conditions. His engineers aptly nicknamed it “McCulloch’s Wonder.”

In addition to clearing fallen trees, boulders and brush, maintaining the trail and adding storm shelters and benches, the trestle restoration society also added another objective to its mandate—preservation and enhancement of the cultural heritage of Myra Canyon.

It partnered with UBC Okanagan to sponsor archaeological digs at two of the original construction camps in 2007 and 2008. Morrissey Camp is now open to the public and brush clearing is underway to access the Huissi Camp.

Lacking new and younger volunteers, however, the MCTRS turned its remaining funds and records over to the Friends of the South Slopes (FOSS) last year, although many members continue to work in the canyon through FOSS.

For more information about the canyon and the KVR’s history, go here.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.