Myra Cannon Trestle Fire anniversary

spitfire

spitfire

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Jul 28, 2002
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On Aug. 16, 2003 a lightening bolt ignited a forest fire that was spread by high winds, and aided by the fact that it had been a very dry summer. By the time it was over the fire had destroyed 200 homes in the town of Kelowna BC, and spreading up the mountainside to the former Kettle Creek RR, burnt 12 of the old wooden trestles to ashes.

The news was posted here on the Gauge at the time, but no one knew what, if anything would be done about the trestles.

In 2004 the BC gov't pledged $13.5 million for the restoration of these historic trestles, with the project scheduled to be completed in 2007. Of course with governments you can never be sure... elections happen etc. etc.

But, the good news is that restoration is ongoing. The Myra Canyon Trestle Restoration Society has a progress report at their website. Coincidently they have a few nice trestle photos as well. :D :D

http://www.myratrestles.com/newsandevents.php

Val
 
wow what great news i biked the trestles before they burned and wow they were great trestles but now there rebuilt. Im glad to see that so many people are putting so much time and efort into it after being quite frustrated after such trestles burned down. thanks for the news val :)
 
Sorry I'm a bit late but I can give you a first hand account of what's going on with the restoration and access to the trestles since I was mountian biking up there a month ago.
It's probably better that I show you through the pictures that I took:
aie.jpg

This is the view from trestle #1 It survived the fire. This picture also gives a hiker or cyclist the first view into Myra canyon. In the distance you can see the bare canyon wall where the fire raced through three years ago

aif.jpg

This is the view from trestle #2 It was destroyed in the fire and has since been rebuilt. Across the canyon you can now see the roadbed and a couple trestles.

aig.jpg

This is another view from trestle #1 shot later in the day you can see the fire damage better

aih.jpg

A later day picture from trestle #2 the trestle on the other side of the canyon is more visible. Abouve the roadbed you can see just how much damage the fire did to the forest. All of the bare area was dense forest before. After the fires logging companies were given special liecense to salvage what timber they could, as a result the area above the myra canyon is largly clear cut and re-planted. when I was up there, the clear cut areas were just large fields of pink/red fireweed.

aij.jpg

This is trestle #1 It is a survivor of the fires. You can tell because the hardward on it is black and there is a slight red tint to the timber from the fire retardant sprayed on it during the fires in 2003. there are still visible patched of the read fire retardant in the unburned forest.

aii.jpg


This is Trestle #2 it is a rebuilt but to the untrained eye it looks very much like the originals. The main differences are the shiny new hardware and the bents are slightly wider spaced. The timbers might be a bit smaller but witout a tape measure you couldn't tell. Trestle #3 has been rebuilt but the access is blocked off at the end of trestle 2 and won't be removed until nex year due to construction on #4 which is the one of the longest and is the highest trestle in the canyon (except the steel spans) On the other side of the canyon my understanding is you can access right up to the first tunnel which take you over 7 trestles, some survivors and some rebuilds.
 
You're welcome. I'm writing this early Sunday morning. Right after breakfast I'm going back up to the other side of the canyon with my camera to check out what it looks like over there.
 
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