Salmo Great Northern Trailhead - Salmo, BC - Mountain Bike Trailheads on Waymarking.com

Now owned by the Ministry of Transportation and Highways for BC, this was once the rail line of first the Nelson and Fort Sheppard (N&FS) Railway, laid down in 1893, then, in 1898, the Great Northern Railway. It runs for a total of 48 km. from Salmo to Nelson. A rail trail, it will have maximum grades of approximately 2.5% as it passes through rugged mountain scenery along the valley of the North Salmo River, which flows south through Salmo, then Cottonwood Creek, which flows north to Nelson. Though going about it using different routes, they both ultimately flow to the Columbia River, the Cottonwood by way of the Kootenay River and the Salmo by way of the Pend d'Oreille River.

A multi-use trail, it is available for use by hikers, bikers, off road vehicles (speed limit 20 km/h), horseback riders and cross country skiers.

The trail begins at this point and runs north through Ymir and the ghost town of Porto Rico to Nelson, about 45 kilometres north. Overnight camping is available at Ymir, right by the trail, one third of the way up the trail.

A parking lot is available on the west side of Highway 6 just over a block south of this trailhead.

GREAT NORTHERN RAIL TRAIL

The Great Northern Rail Trail section of the Spirit of 2010 Trail is marked by a rugged landscape and a colourful history. Like many of the other rail line segments of the trail, rail expansion began with the drive to find huge deposits of gold, silver, lead and copper in the area, in the 1880s and 1890s.

This section of the rail line was built by American Daniel Corbin. His Spokane Falls and Northern (SF&N) Railway reached navigable water on the Columbia River only 24 kilometres south of the Canada/US border in 1890. Corbin continued building his railroad north, and completed the Nelson and Fort Sheppard (N&FS) Railway in 1893, providing Nelson with an uninterrupted rail line to Spokane, Washington. Another significant step in railway expansion was the opening of the Great Northern Railway main line from Spokane to Seattle, also in 1893.

The rail line was initially forced to use 'Mountain Station', located high above Nelson, with a steamer dock at Troup, British Columbia 8 kilometres north east of the 'Queen City' on Kootenay Lake. In 1895 a rail loop was established at Troup with a line along the lake to the outskirts of a neighbourhood called 'Bogustown' just outside of Nelson, now known as the Fairview neighbourhood.

In 1898 Great Northern Railway acquired a controlling interest in both SF&N and N&FS railways and two years later, acquired running rights to the new CPR station in Nelson. Great Northern Railway purchased SF&N outright in 1907 and the N&FS in 1944 and merged into the Burlington Northern System in 1970.

In the early days, the rail line formed an important connection for the West Kootenay mining towns, allowing efficient shipping of their rich ores to the United States. Passenger traffic also flowed between Nelson and Spokane from 1893 to 1941. All train traffic into the region ceased in 1989, except in the section between Waneta and Ross Spur that continues to see active rail use to this day. In 1998 the rails and ties were removed between Ross Spur and Salmo, and in 1999 the final removal of the rails and ties between Salmo and Troup was completed.

This stretch of trail is part of a much more extensive proposed system of trails known as "The Kootenay Loop", which connects to the Trans Canada Trail network in three locations. The hub of the Kootenays, the Salmo-Troup Trail is surrounded by mountains, clear, pristine streams and rivers and many small scenic lakes and marshlands. It is a natural haven for a variety of wildlife.

Beginning in the Village of Salmo, the Great Northern Rail Trail trail winds north through a picturesque rural area in the environmentally sensitive Salmo River Valley. Climbing for 30 kilometres at an average grade of 1%, the rail trail passes through the historic settlement of Ymir, a former mining town, to Summit, and then descends past Cottonwood Lake Regional Park, to form the southeastern boundary of the City of Nelson, linking in numerous places with the street system.

The picturesque city of Nelson is surrounded by the Selkirk Mountains and set on the shores of Kootenay Lake. Leaving the city, the trail continues to descend at about 2.4% down to Troup Junction, where it crosses the active CPR, and terminates on the fan of Five Mile Creek, for a total distance of 48 kilometres.
From the Spirit of 2010 Trail