Galena-Alamo Loop

Galena-Alamo Loop
Distance: 14.6 km (9.03 mi).
Route type: Loop
Suitable for: Walking, running, biking
Elevation change: 406 metres up, 406 metres down

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This route combines the lower extents of two great trails, the Galena Trail and the Alamo Wagon Road. They run along opposite sides of Carpenter Creek. At the upstream (east) end, a short but steep connecting trail links the trails by way of Alamo Siding. An easy couple of kilometres along Highway 6 links the trails at the downstream end. There's a fair bit of elevation change, as one would expect, following the course of a mountain creek. The steepest section is the southwest portion, the 2.5 kilometres of the trail nearest New Denver, along the south side of the creek. This is a bit of a hard-core grunt on a bike with a 10% grade, and it follows a gravel road where the terrain and scenery are less interesting than elsewhere. On a bike I prefer to do the route clockwise to take this as a final hair-raising downhill at 50 km/h. When running or walking I tend to go counter-clockwise.

There are two logical starting points along Highway 6 for this loop. The first is at the bottom of the Alamo Road. Park in the gravel area just to the southeast of the bridge in New Denver. The other option is to drive north on Highway 6 to the pull-out 750 metres north of the hydro transformer station and pick up the Galena Trail there.

Today I rode my bike and did the loop clockwise. Starting at the pull-out just north of town, I picked up the little wooded piece of the Galena Trail that creates a shortcut between Highway 6 and 31A. This is a lovely segment that is a shade under a kilometre long. It dumps you out on Highway 31A, where you head uphill for about a hundred metres, take a right onto Denver Siding Rd. and the next left towards the Highway Maintenance yard. Here the Galena Trail becomes a proper trail again, gradually sloping upwards at a sedate 1-2% grade. About 4.5 km along, you reach the cable car.

After crossing the cable car, the steep hill takes you to the old Alamo Siding site. About 20 metres after passing the main ruins of Alamo Siding, a trail branches off to the right through the grass, heading immediately uphill. It crosses some of the wreckage, and then continues upwards through the woods, eventually arriving at this tumbledown supply house in a meadow. It dates back a hundred years and was still mostly standing until just a few years ago. Now its roof and main timbers have crumbled. There's still a lovely garden of now-feral irises out front, and it's still a property with an amazing view.

The trail passes in front of the house and then winds past it on the left side. Continue uphill a little further and you'll meet the Alamo Wagon Road.

Turn right on the Alamo Wagon Road and follow it as it meanders mostly downhill. It's very rooty, and there are places where scree slopes lend a fair bit of technical exposure to the trail. It can be tempting to get going fairly fast on a bike on parts of this trail, but keep your eyes well ahead as the trail has a tendency to veer to the left with no warning, in order to avoid plummeting off some pretty steep cliffs. It's a pretty straight-forward trail to follow otherwise.

There are some lovely views of the creek far below, the Valhalla mountains, the lake and New Denver to be had from the trail. Eventually as you near New Denver it widens a bit and then later becomes a gravel road. Just stay to the creek (right) side and carry on straight ahead and straight down.

In no time at all you'll be back down in New Denver. From here you just take a right on Highway 6 and head north out of town to your starting point.

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Lower Galena Trail

Lower Galena Trail
Distance: 8.03 km (5 mi).
Route type: Out and back
Suitable for: Walking, running, biking, XC skiing, snowshoeing
Elevation change: 104 metres up, 104 metres down

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Looking south from the Rosebery trailhead

Heading north out of New Denver, the highway winds up past the hydro transformer station. About 700 metres later there's an obvious vehicle pull-out on the right. Park here. The trailhead is almost directly, across the highway, though you may not be able to see it until you walk over. The little slope down from the roadbed is practically the most technical part of the trail.

Alternatively drive 4 km north to the unincorporated hamlet of Rosebery. Take the first left onto DaRosa Dr., and then take another left into the abandoned log yard and pick your way along the tracks as far south and as close to the highway as you can. You'll find the north trailhead here.

The trail is an easy walk, ride or run in either direction. The grade is a steady downhill of about 2% for most of the northward journey. The most southerly kilometre of the route has a couple of horizontal stone stiles to prevent the passage of motorized vehicles. Cyclists will need to dismount and wiggle through. The northerly third of the route has occasional side-trails down to the beach. Lake water is potable, so this is a good chance to refill a water bottle on a hot summer day. Or just to jump in the lake for a quick cooling swim.

Because the trail hugs the lake, it tends to be free of snow fairly early in spring. The tree cover and proximity to the lake makes snow-cover a bit spotty in the winter. Occasionally the trail is snowy enough for XC skiing, and it is a good snowshoe route for most of the colder months.

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Carpenter Creekside Loop

Carpenter Creekside Loop
Distance: 5.69 km (3.54 mi).
Route type: Loop
Suitable for: Walking, running, biking
Elevation change: 123 metres up, 123 metres down

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This is a fabulous little loop that is mostly shaded and takes in some lovely views of Carpenter Creek. It is a combination of the old powerstation supply trail and a portion of the Galena Trail, with fun but steep connector that joins the two trails. At its furthest extent the loop brings you to the location of the old power station and the amazing narrow chute the creek runs through at that point. When running or walking, it's nice to do the loop counterclockwise starting in town at the corner of Columbia St. and Slocan Ave.. Take the first right north of the Carpenter Creek bridge and follow this little street straight to the end, pulling over to park. The trail begins following the creek just to the right through some grasses.

Initially the creekside trail meanders amongst small trees and worn stones on the floodplain of Carpenter Creek. The creek hasn't flooded here in decades, as indicated by the size of the trees. Cyclists will be happy for any suspension their bikes are equipped with, as the trail bumps along over a lot of river rocks. After about 0.75 km, the trail moves up a bit onto the bed of what was the supply trail for the old power station, but still stays near the creek. The going gets easier as a result. It's a gradual uphill.

About 50 metres after the first steeper up-hill section begins, there's a switchback on the left. This connects the Creekside Trail to the Galena Trail along the railgrade above. Before heading up and back, though, I took a detour to the chute. A small mossy trail continues along beside the creek. There's some scrambling involved, and it's important to stay alert doing so: pretty soon there is some steep exposure above the creek.

This is the view directly down. The creek has been funnelled into an incredibly narrow space. The boulder wedged between the walls of the canyon is probably two metres across at its maximum width. I can't imagine how it got stuck there!

For comparison, here's what the creek spreads out into just a couple of kilometres further downstream. It's a lot of water that travels through here.

Heading back to the switchback, I usually walk the connector up to the Galena Trail. It's quite steep. I have managed to bike it downhill, though it has involved a lot of adrenaline -- a lot!

The connector meets the Galena Trail near the little bridge over Turris Creek. Turn left to head back towards town. The Galena is a smooth gradual slope back to the highway maintenance yard. At that point there's a little bit of asphalt to get back to the start-point. Head straight along the road until it ends, and carry on straight across it to find the abandoned street that goes straight down the hill. About halfway down the broken asphalt hill of what used to be an extension of 10th Ave., a little trail heads off the the left through the trees for a couple of hundred metres. It spits you out on the main road, Highway 31A. After half a kilometre or so, Columbia St. is on the left, and taking that for a block will lead you back to your start-point.

When biking the loop I go in the opposite direction so that the steepest sections are downhill. If riding up the highway, I usually stay on the road until Denver Siding Road to keep the grade more manageable.

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Late summer lake

K&S Railgrade to Payne Bluff

K&S Railgrade to Payne Bluff
Distance: 7.41 km (4.60 mi).
Route type: One way (vehicle drop?)
Suitable for: Walking, running, biking
Elevation change: 66 metres up, 306 metres down

Technical difficulty rating:  
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I did this as a quick ride they other night as a thunderstorm was getting ready to break. I didn't quite beat the weather, but I beat dusk and by the time the rain came I was hot and ready for a bit of a soaking. It took me just over half an hour, not counting the times I stopped to take photos and explore. There were a bunch of logs down across the descending part of the trail, which interrupted the wild fun of the descent, but probably helped preserve my focus.

I started at the trailhead in Sandon. The first couple of kilometres are fast, flat, smooth double-track. You can actually drive this section with an AWD vehicle if you don't mind your vehicle being brushed by twigs, as there's a small parking area at the end, but it's so smooth, shady and lovely that I don't see the point.

After the little parking area with the outhouse, the trail narrows to single-track. This is where the fun begins. After 500 metres you come to an old mine. The ore-cart tracks are still in place. The hut that shelters the mine opening is right next to the trail, and you can peer in and maybe see some of the broken bits of core drill sample that have been left there.

After the mine, the trail becomes a bit rougher. It scrambles over slopes of mine tailings, jumps over roots, dodges rocks and dips precipitously down and then up again out of creek-bed valleys. It passes by the Payne Concentrator site (more tailings) another mine site (this one with a little interpretive sign).

The view opens up in places, so that you can look down on Carpenter Creek and eventually on Three Forks, where Kane Creek, Seaton Creek and Carpenter Creek all join to head towards Slocan Lake. I kept my eyes peeled for the fork in the trail. The right fork leads to Payne Bluff, a nice short side trip that leads to the location of the famous photo of workers building the narrow-gauge railway, seemingly almost hanging off the side of a cliff face, was taken.

But as the lightning flashed I declined the side-trip and headed down to Three Forks. A few of the switchbacks were too tight for me on my bike and I confess I hopped off. I'm sure more hard-core mountain-bikers could have skidded and hopped their rear tires around them, but I wasn't taking any risks riding alone.

By riding or running the gravel highway to Sandon it would be possible to make this route into a loop, but it sure was nice to have someone willing to drop me at the top. The one-way route could also be walked or run in reverse from Three Forks towards Sandon, but it's not really great to bike that way: much of the first kilometer has an uphill grade of 17% or so.

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Sun rays

Evening over the Valhallas.

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