When I looked outside this morning and saw that the sky was a little cloudy, I knew today was going to be a hiking day. However, it needed to be something on the easier side, because my legs still haven’t quite recovered from our backpacking adventure to Kwai Lake.
And for some reason, the more I thought about going hiking, the more I thought about the Kinsol Trestle. And so, my twins and I jumped in the car and headed to the Shawnigan Lake area for a hiking adventure.
The Kinsol Trestle used to be a railroad bridge, but now it’s part of the Cowichan Valley Trail (also part of the Great Trail). It was built in support of the forestry industry, and when the trains no longer used this route (the bridge was built in 1920, and the last train crossed in 1979), the bridge fell into disrepair. Luckily it was saved and is now one of many restored trestles along this trail.
It is, however, the biggest and most impressive. And not just on this trail.
I took a little read on Wikipedia, and the Kinsol Trestle is the largest wooden trestle in the Commonwealth of Nations (which has 54 countries, for those unfamiliar). According to Wikipedia, the Kinsol Trestle’s height is also something to be impressed by, as it’s one of the highest trestles in the world.
The Cowichan Valley Trail is a 108 km (67.4 mile) trail with lots of access points. But from the parking lot closest to the Kinsol Trestle, it’s an easy 1 km (0.6 mile) walk to the bridge. This trail can also be done by bike or on horse. By the time we were done exploring, we’d covered about 4.6 km (2.9 miles).
Once you’ve crossed the bridge, you have the option of carrying on down the trail (or maybe it’s up the trail? Because you are travelling north—not sure), or you can take a trail that brings you down under the bridge. Unlike the main one, this trail is steep and goes through several switchbacks to bring you underneath the bridge and to the banks of the Koksilah River.
Kinsol Trestle from below 
View of the Koksilah River from the Kinsol Trestle 
Kinsol Trestle
There are picnic tables available, but my twins and I chose to eat our lunch on the rocky banks of the river. When we got down to the river, we immediately regretted not bringing our swimming stuff, because the river is deep and calm here, and it looked so inviting. But there’s always next time.
One twin took his shoes off and ate with his feet dangling in the river. I tried to convince him he could swim in his underwear, but he looked at me with a look of quizzical disdain my children save for when they think I’m being weird.
As you can imagine, building a bridge like this isn’t an easy feat. Especially when you consider the time period it was originally built in. According to the signs at the site, it was assembled like a big puzzle using special markings to help the engineers know which piece went where. We had a lot of fun finding these markings and seeing if we could figure out what they meant. Turns out we have a little bit of studying to do, before we could become wooden-trestle-engineers.
But, of course, the all important question doesn’t involve the ingenuity of the bridge-builders in 1920, it involves the creativity of one romance author—namely, me 😉.
While, I didn’t get an inspiration for a story line that was set in modern times (although, I had a billion for a historical romance—maybe one day…), I couldn’t help but think about how romantic it would be to have your first kiss on this bridge with the wind blowing in your hair and the sound of the river below—swoon 😍
One thing that I did realize on this hike—although I didn’t necessarily come up with the solution—is that I’m still not happy with the story line for Rescuing Claire, West Coast Romance Book 3. I’ve completed two drafts—with significant changes from draft 1 to draft 2—but I’m still not feeling it. So, it’s time for a draft 3 rip apart!
It’s always hard when a story has to change significantly. It can feel like a lot of work was lost, but at the end of my day, I want you, as my reader, to love the story, so it’s worth every second!
Alright, time to write something romantic. Happy wanderings everyone,
This adventure took place 16 July 2020
