Nakusp to Summit Lake Rail Trail

Formerly the railway for the Nakusp Line, the railbed climbs gently from Nakusp to Summit Lake. The rail trail is ideal for cycling, cross-country skiing, jogging, or simply walking in surroundings both stunning and soothing. 

As with many railways, it was built along the valley bottom corridor and travels through extensive natural habitat for birds, fish, deer, rodents and larger mammals, including bears and moose. 

From Nakusp, the railway climbs at a 2% grade up to Summit Lake, with the first six kilometres situated along the edges of the town of Nakusp, rural acreages and the Nakusp Centennial Golf Course. As the valley narrows, the trail climbs above Box Lake, affording the traveler a superb view of the Box Lake marsh. The trail passes through recent logging blocks that demonstrate current forest practices of smaller clearcuts to reduce the impact on the ecosystem. Much of what was logged is second growth timber following logging in the valley bottoms early in the 1900s. 

On approaching the shores of Summit Lake, at 765 metres elevation, the surroundings change. The ancient mountains around the Lake are home to mountain goats, bears, deer and elk herds. Summit Lake is stocked with rainbow trout and provides great fun for sport fishers from May through September. The view across Summit Lake to the range known as Three Sisters is spectacular. 

The Historic Nakusp and Slocan Railway continued on past the current trail, through Rosebery, past New Denver, and through Three Forks to Sandon. 

From Rosebery, it is possible to continue on the Galena Trail to Sandon, and further railbed may be explored between Sandon and Kaslo.

The rail trail may be accessed from many points where it crosses local roads or Highway 6. The trail begins at the junction of Highway 6 and Highway 23 (GPS Point 1 on the map), follows Highway 6 to Government Road (GPS Point 2), then switches to climb the grade out of town. GPS Point 4 shows access at the Nakusp Centennial Golf Course, while GPS Point 5 indicates where the railbed crosses Highway 6, just south of Brouse Loop Rd. There is a parking lot on the west side of the crossing. The rail trail is also accessible from Wilson Lake Rd. (GPS Point 6), Highway 6 (GPS Point 7). The Galena Trail begins in Rosebery; upgraded and mapped in the 1990s, it extends to Sandon.

Railways are ideal for biking, jogging, cross-country skiing, horseback riding and walking. The section of trail from Government Road south is designated as multi-use, to include motorized off-road recreational vehicles.

Many hundreds of years ago, the railway corridor was a traditional trade and hunting route of First Nations people traveling between the Arrow and Slocan Lakes. 

In 1893, the Nakusp and Slocan Railway Company Act was given royal assent by the BC Southern Railway Act, and about one thousand CPR workers began construction of the track from Nakusp to Three Forks (above New Denver). It was completed in 1894 and shortly thereafter extended to the mining mecca, Sandon. Upon completion in December of 1895, rival Great Northern Railway crews racing to build the railway in from Kaslo to Sandon promptly attacked the CPR personnel and property, sending bunkhouse cars rolling down the winding mountain tracks to Kaslo in the middle of the night, cutting telegraph lines, and demolishing the Sandon station house by wrapping a cable around it and attaching it to a moving train. The race to reach Sandon, the lucrative endpoint of the two lines, turned out to be unnecessary, as in those boom days, both lines operated at full capacity. As a remnant of bygone days, a small station house still stands at Hunter Siding (GPS Point 10). For further information, visit the Nakusp & District Museum, the Silvery Slocan Museum in New Denver, the Sandon Museum. 

In the 1960s and 70s, the train still ran a few times a week, transporting poles and cedar shakes from Nakusp mills south to the main rail line.The last train left Nakusp in 1989 and the tracks were removed a few years later, and the railbed started to be used for recreation.

If the Nakusp to Summit Lake Rail Trail appealed to you, try the Hot Springs Trail or Wensley Creek for other day hikes or winter skis.