An easy trail, mostly on an old railway bed, featuring huge stone pillars from old railroad bridges.

Trailhead
The trail begins at the widest point in the pullout, where you will see several plaques explaining how this “loop” in the track reduced the grade on the railway.

Trail
Follow the trail into the trees until you reach the first stone pillar. The trail climbs the hill to the uppermost pillar, and then heads right and up through the forest to reach the upper rail bed. [read more]

Once you reach the old rail bed, turn right and head west towards Loop Brook. (The trail to the left follows the old rail bed as far as the Illicilliwaet campground, but often, water on the route makes it very rough going.)

This section of railway was built in 1908 and abandoned in 1916 when the Connaught Tunnel opened. The ties have slowly rotted away, leaving an interesting washboard effect on the trail.

The trail leaves the bed briefly when you reach the remnants of a snowshed, battered by avalanches over the years, and then reaches the stone pillars from the second bridge. You will see that one of the pillars on this section has fallen over. If the weather is nice, you will also have a great view of Mount Bonney and the Bonney Glacier.

Descend to creek level and cross it on the wooden bridge. The trail then climbs back up to grade and makes a big sweep before coming back to the west end of the first bridge. Again, drop down to the creek level and follow the trail across the campground road to the left. Head for a wooden footbridge that abuts the highway bridge to cross back to your car.

This is a relaxing and interesting walk, but you won’t escape the highway noise except for a brief time while you are right next to Loop Brook. The jake brakes on the trucks descending from Rogers Pass are pretty constant.

From the junction of Highway 95 and Highway 1 in Golden, drive west on the Trans Canada Highway for 85 kilometres. Drive past the Rogers Pass centre and head down the steep hill on the west side of the pass. [read more]

Continue through the twinned section, past the Illicilliwaet campground turnoff, and turn left into the pullout before the Loop Brook bridge. (If you pass this pullout, you can turn into the Loop Brook campground and drive back across the bridge to the pullout.)