Columbia and Western Railway Trail, near Christina Lake, BC

This is the trail that was created on the old railway bed, leading from Christina Lake to Castlegar. From where I started near Christina Lake, the trail stretches about 80km to Castlegar, and is about a 2% grade for 35km and then 2% grade down for 40km, with some flat at the end.

Most of the surface is a mix of hard-packed dirt with some crushed rock. Sometimes the rock takes over the whole trail, making cycling slightly difficult, but is usually quickly replaced with the double-track of packed dirt that is visible in this video. There are also small sections where it gets sandy, but mostly it's pretty good.

I rode the 80km of trail on a fully-loaded touring bike with 47mm tires. My friend rode along with me on 28mm tires with the pressure dropped to 70psi. She was also fairly well-loaded. We both did fine.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Chistina Lake
• Columbia and Western Railway
• trail
• bike
• bicycle
• touring
• Castlegar
• railway