Trans Canada Trail

The Trans Canada Trail is a 18,078-kilometre (11,233 mi) corridor in Canada. The creation of the trail was announced as part of Canada’s 125th anniversary celebrations in 1992 and when complete, will be the longest recreational trail in the world.

In February, 2000, a team of Junior Rangers hacking through ice to draw water from the Arctic Ocean helped launch the first leg of the Trans Canada Trail Relay 2000, Canada’s largest Millennium Celebration. It was an epic journey to celebrate the millennium and forge a trail to link the whole country together from North to South and East to West.

The carriers travelled over 16,000 km through every province and territory and countless towns and communities to the symbolic finale. On September 9th, 2000, the national celebration featured the three final water vessel carriers from the Relay 2000, the Arctic, the west coast and the east coast route pouring ocean water from the three oceans into acermonial fountain in Hull, symbolizing the opening of the Trans Canada Trail and the end of the relay.
However, the Trail is still not complete. Trail building groups across Canada are working hard to get the trail route registered and the actual trail developed. What gave this relay its power and its everlasting legacy is not the end of the event, but the beginning it represents. To get there, those Canadians and thousands more, will have bound together their lives with an everlasting national dream.

There were two celebrated stops in the West Kootenay ~ Boundary area. On April 26th, 2000 the Rhone Trail Rest Stop, north of Westbridge on Highway #33 was officially recognized and on April 27th, 2000, the largest event in the Boundary area, the Tunnel of Flags in Greenwood was officially unveiled.

In the Boundary and West Kootenay regions, the Trans Canada Trail follows the Kettle Valley Rail Trail to Mile Zero at Midway and then continues with the Columbia & Western Rail Trail to Grand Forks, Christina Lake and on to Castlegar and Trail and beyond. The goal is to connect the TCT as a continuous route from coast to coast to coast by 2017, the 25th anniversary of the TCT and Canada’s 150th anniversary since Confederation.
Press Release about The Trans Canada Trail Relay 2000 passing thru Boundary Country
reproduced from Volume 2 issue 7 of The OpenMinder

March 31, 2000,Victoria, BC On April 7 all eyes will be set on Victoria as it launches the second leg of the Trans Canada Trail Relay 2000 from the city’s Inner Harbour with a spectacular water drawing ceremony and two full days of city-wide celebrations.

The Trans Canada Trail Relay 2000 is the largest national millennium celebration planned for the Year 2000. Ocean water is being drawn from the three oceans that border Canada and relayed hand over hand by 5,000 Canadians along the route of the Trans Canada Trail. Ultimately all three water vessels will be joined together in the National Capital Region where they will be ceremoniously poured into a newly constructed fountain, marking the inaugural opening of the Trans Canada Trail and the culmination of the national millennium celebrations that have occurred as the Relay has moved through over 800 Canadian communities.

Tourism Victoria has lead a committee of Victoria based organizations who have pulled together a series of community activities and events that will help celebrate Victoria’s significant role in this exciting project. The actual ‘drawing of the water’ (WaterFEST) is scheduled for the Inner Harbour on Friday April 7th (11:30 – 1:30). A spectacular ‘arrival of the ocean water’ by helicopter and both Sooke and Songhees First Nation canoes will precede the very colourful dignitary procession and stage ceremony.

It will be an ‘upbeat’ lunch hour event with entertainment by both the Naden Band and Esquimalt Jazz Sextet. Ceremony dignitaries include Her Excellency, the Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Premier Ujjal Dosanjh, Mayor Allan Lowe, Chief Robert Sam, and Dr. Sherman Olson, President of the Board of Directors, Trans Canada Trail Foundation.

Following the water drawing ceremonies, the Relay will tour the community with scheduled stops at Somerset House, Oak Bay Monterey Centre, and Government House where the Lieutenant Governor, Garde Gardom will extend best wishes and an opportunity to sign the BC2000 book.
Festivities continue into the evening when the Relay will be hosted at an ‘Unveil the Trail’ art exhibit opening at the Fran Willis Gallery. The exhibit and art sale present the prints and selected original works of artists published as part of Art Images “Vision of a Nation” art project in support of the Trans Canada Trail.

Saturday morning (9:00 a.m.) will see the official start of Relay 2000 at Dallas Road Mile 0 by Deputy Prime Minister Herb Gray. This launch will be lead by a colourful flag procession which will weave its way down Douglas Street, around the Inner Harbour, out Wharf Street and over the Johnson Street bridge to Westsong Way Park. Here it will stop for the Westcoast Community Breakfast where there will be westcoast hospitality, food, entertainment and festivities. A PEOPLE Parade – open to the public – will depart from this site at 10:30 and continue through the 1.7 km to the location of the Trans Canada Trail Pavilion at the Selkirk Trestle.

The PEOPLE Parade is about participation! Everyone is encouraged to bring their bikes, roller blades, hiking boots and join the excitement. Free art workshops are being held in the Greater Victoria area the first week of April where everyone will have the opportunity to make flags, banners and signs to carry in the parade.

The Selkirk Trestle will see the unveiling of two more panels of trail donor names to be mounted in the pavilion and the official sendoff of Relay 2000 as it departs on its cross Canada trek! “This is indeed an opportunity not to be missed,” says Tourism Victoria’s CEO, Lorne Whyte, “Canadians have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take part in this historical event. People from our community are very excited and proud that Victoria will be responsible for launching thewestern leg of this major national endeavor. The eyes of the country will be upon us.”

The first leg of this exciting national relay began under the great white northern spotlight in Tuktoyaktuk, NWT on February 19th with the drawing of Arctic Ocean water. Since being launched in the North West Territories, Trans Canada Trail Relay 2000 has been received with enthusiasm and great fanfare in more than 30 communities across the North West Territories, northern British Columbia and northern Alberta.

“Based on the excitement in the North, Canadians are truly embracing this project,” said Suzanne Dane, the Relay’s BC Region Coordinator. “The individual impact the Relay has had on people so far is incredible. It has captured the hearts and spirits of everyone it passed at a very personal level – with a renewed spirit of togetherness. It was amazing to see it in action!”

The Relay will weave through the province of British Columbia visiting over 66 communities with over 100 celebrations between April 7th and May 5th before moving into Alberta, continuing east to its final destination in the National Capital Region.

On April 25 Relay 2000 will be arriving in Beaverdell. Residents of the area are invited to join the Relay from the railgrade along Railway Ave. to the highway. From there, welcoming ceremonies will be at the Beaverdell Hotel and then it’s off to the community hall for a community supper, entertainment by the classes of Beaverdell school and the Eek sisters.

On April 26, Relay 2000’s first morning stop will be at Paul Lautard’s place in Rhone. Cake and coffee will be served as we honour Paul for his work building the Trans Canada Trail rest stop. Then, closer to lunch time, 10 students from West Boundary Elementary School carry the Pacific Ocean water along the old railgrade near the school. The Parent Advisory Council will be sponsoring a hot dog sale with proceeds going to the school.

The last event for April 26 will be at Midway at the Mile 0 museum where a bicycle parade will lead the Relay 2000 water carrier into the museum. Dinner and entertainment at the high school will cap off a full day.

April 27 will see Relay 2000 participating in five events in Greenwood. First an announcement about the smokestack light up will be made at the old WKP building. Then it’s off to city hall where the Mayor will sign the Book of Communities. Then on to the Museum where a ribbon will be cut and the museum will be opened. Near the bandshell, the Greenwood Board of Trade will assist with the officially opening of the Boundary Creek Nature Walk. Then at 10 o’clock the ceremonies for the Unveiling of the Tunnel of Flags will commence.

By 2 o’clock in the afternoon Relay 2000 will reach Grand Forks where Tesha Bryant will be riding her horse into City Park. After a feast of borscht it’s on to Christina Lake for the night.

The third leg of the Relay will begin on May 5th when Atlantic Ocean water will be drawn from Cape Spear in Newfoundland. On September 9th in the year 2000, the waters from the three oceans that border Canada will come together in our nation’s capital. Five thousand carriers will have traveled over 16,000 km through every province and territory and towns and communities to this symbolic finale. What gives this relay its power and its everlasting legacy is not the end of the event, but the beginning it represents: to reach the goal, thousands of Canadians will have bound together their lives through an everlasting national dream.

Canadians can follow the Relay on the Web at www.tctrail.ca and join the hundreds of celebrations in towns and cities all along the Trans Canada Trail as the Relay 2000 adventure fosters a renewed sense of community pride, national spirit and millennial excitement.

Rhone – Mile 25 – Rest Stop along the KVR between Westbridge and Beaverdell ~
Rest Your Body & Recharge Your Spirit
From March 23 2000 Volume 2 issue 6 of The OpenMinder

While travelling around the Boundary looking for advertisers and stories to go into the OpenMinder, I was told about a person who was building a rest stop for the Trans Canada Trail that was being officially recognized. When I phoned to make a time to meet him a couple weeks ago, he said there was still 8 inches of snow on the ground, but I would find him out at the shelter, up on a ladder building and extention on the shelter roof.

Well last week I went out to Rhone Road off of Hwy #33 just past Westbridge to meet Paul Lautard and a warm spell had made it harder to find evidence of the snow, but Paul was up on the ladder when I arrived.

When I got out of my car, the welcoming feeling of this place was overwhelming. The layout of the building, the railroad memorabilia, the cenotaph, picknick tables. Everything was a compliment to each other, and even more impressive is that Paul, who is 76, has done this himself, with his own time, money, land, and a little help from some friends.

Pauls canine companion, Stubby, named for his stubby tail, greeted me and immediately drew me into play. A compact ball of energy who’s talents included letting Paul know when the cyclers were coming and entertaining them by moving rocks all over the gravel covered ground in a variety of ways, for extended periods of time. Paul, by this time had climbed down his ladder, greeted me with a warm smile, and after introductions, started to show me around.

One of the first things I noticed when we were approaching the shelter, was that it was covered in writing, and as I came closer I noticed it was signatures in red and black. The first year of the shelter, black markers were left in there for people to use, and red markers for last year. When we walked into the shelter Paul could point to some rafter above, or wall, or post, and read a name and tell a story of the person he met.

“That guy there,”Paul starts in, “he’s a mechanical engineer at the factory that makes the nails that went into this place, and just about every other thing that takes a nail, they make two tonnes a day every day. I get helicopter pilots, school teachers, architects, geologists, every body comes. Pedro, from Costa Rica was an exchange student, they come from all over the place.”

Over top of my head is written 25th Wedding Aniversary, and Paul says “There was one guy who was standing there, and he looked up at it and he says ‘It’s my 25th wedding anniversary in 2000 and we’re going to come up and celebrate it here too!’ and then one day not too long ago I was working back here, behind the shelter and I looked back there, and it says Dwane Gilber, will you marry me. A marriage proposal!”

I then followed Paul around the front again where he was getting ready to put up a smooth piece of 4’x8′ plywood for writing more signatures. It seemed as if that one of the requirements of the building materials was, smoothness for writing on.

When we came across a signature from Folkstone England, Paul told me another story
“There was this woman who was here with her husband and son and they were from Folkstone England, and I told them that I was stationed there in the WWII. We were parked right beside the hospital and a bomb had hit the hospital and kill a lot of people in it. Well she says that she is a nurse at that same hospital, and she was quite interested because I had been to Folkstone.”

“Most every name has a number, I keep track of them in a book, that is the ones with the black marker, and I counted them up and there was 628 in 1998 and then in 1999 I used the red and counted them and got 1352. That’s almost 2000 people. This year I’ll be getting a bunch of blue markers, and who knows, I may get 2000 people.”

One of the extensions on the side of the shelter is being expanded for a bike shelter for when it is raining.
Paul does a little bit of wood planing for a friend and in trade has his friend make up some very well designed round picknick tables.

What rest stop would be complete with out an out house, and at this stop it has something a little bit unique. “Some times when I’m down here with the visitors,” Paul says “someone comes back here and the first thing they see is these Dutch doors, and they’ll holler out to there husband or wife and they’ll say ‘come up here and take a picture of me!”

The building is fresh painted and clean as a whistle. “I wash it every day in the season, and see it’s got a mirror in here too.
We made our way back to the open area and Paul explained that he was in the process of obtaining a caboose that was off its wheels, to add to the collection of railroad memorabilia that he was building into the area. From rails off a track his father drove a speeder on for 15 years, to the signs, spikes, and locks and other tools.

“This is a group of 14 Germans and they come 4 times a year. This stop is their lunch stop” Paul explained to me as he was pointing to some more names. They leave Midway or Rock Creek and by the time they get here it’s lunch time. The stop here is at 651 meters above sea level, they like to know that because the summit is about 1210.”

“Some people who have land that the trail goes through are kind of hesitant to cooperate because of a fear of vandalism and garbage, have you had any problem in the past?” I asked.

” In the 2 years that the shelter has been up, and over 2000 visitors, I have picked up no more than 4 cigarette butts, that’s all! They need all their energy to keep on cycling. They pick up all their garbage. I don’t have a garbage can here, and they’re so polite. They are the nicest people you would ever want to meet.

Paul brought me over to the cenotaph, a 28 tonne rock, surrounded by a cement footing with a Canadian flag and a bronze plaque commemorating the memory of family passed. “The rock picked its place cause the D-9 Cat couldn’t drag it any more” Paul added.
We came across a water hose and before I could ask Paul said that that was for watering the flowers and wasn’t for them to drink, “It sits in the hose to long, I go up to the house and bring down a jug of water I keep in the fridge for them. It’s sort of a hobby to take care of this, cause I don’t have much else to do in the summer.

Paul invited me up to the house, where he had also brought other trail treckers, to help dry them off in the wetter weather, and let them have a view of the valley and the shelter below, from the sunroom. More of Pauls talents were hiding inside his home. Actually once inside they aren’t hiding, they are displayed on the walls. The beautiful relief carvings of wild life and nature scenes. He says his hands aren’t as good at it any more, so he hasn’t done any in a while.

As I was leaving I stopped at the end of his driveway to take the picture on the front page and Paul was already up the ladder and back to work trying to get it finished and ready for April 26th when there will be the “Official Acknowledgement” of his labour of love.

7 Years Later ~ ONE free rest stop for the human body and ONE warm spirit along the 2010 Trail.
Reproduced from Welcome to the Boundary and the Beautiful Kettle Valley. 2007

The world’s longest trail relay was launched on February 19th, 2000, from Tuktoyaktuk, NWT, to commemorate the forming of “The Trans Canada Trail”, a name given to the linking of trails that cross Canada to connect the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

A vessel of water from each of the Arctic, the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans was relayed hand over hand by 5000 people. The trail was traveled by persons on snowmobiles, dogsleds, skis, bicycles, rollerblades, horseback and on foot, traversing 16,000 kilometres or 10,000 miles, to unite at the Trans Canada Trail Fountain on September 9th at Hull Quebec across the Rideau River from Ottawa. The Pacific Ocean water vessel arrived in Rhone, BC on April 26, one of the 66 communities and 100 celebration stops throughout British Columbia.

Rhone is located on the Trans Canada Trail at the 25 mile marker from Midway, BC, off Hwy # 33, on Rhone Road just north of Westbridge, BC. The Paul Lautard Cyclist Stop and War Memorial at Rhone was commemorated an official Trans Canada Trail rest stop for the relay. Paul and his dog Stubby started working on this project in 1998. Today it is a FREE stop for cyclists! The stop offers a shelter with picnic tables, water, dutch door outhouse and a newly constructed caboose built on-site, a replica of the one at the Midway Museum. The Caboose is fully functional with beds, kitchen facilities, a woodstove and finished with Ponderosa Pine paneling, made from a tree off the property that was struck by lighting. It’s an ongoing, selfless “labour of love” from the hands of this one man, built with his own funds, on his own land with some help from friends and the loving support of his wife Gloria.

Paul and Stubby’s love for visitors is expressed through memorable personal stories and doggie tricks. Visitors are encouraged to make note of their passage by signing the guest book and/or signing their name with a message anywhere on the walls, posts, or rafters of the shelter. This tradition of signing started off with different coloured markers for each year, but with the many visitors making their mark, this method was eventually abandoned. Paul remembers almost everyone that has passed through his stretch of the trail. “Like that one,” as he points to a name,” he’s a mechanical engineer at the factory that makes the nails that went into building this place.” Another is the woman in a family photo from Folkstone, England. She was a nurse during the time Paul was stationed in Folkstone. There has even been a marriage proposal, it reads “Dwayne Gilbert will you marry me?” Visitors come from every walk of life and from all over the world. In 1998 Paul counted 628 visitors signatures, in 1999 he had 1,352 visitors, and from 2000 to 2003 there were 1,700 to 2,000 visitors annually. In the six month period just before the forest fire in 2003 that burnt the Kettle Valley Rail trestles in Myra Canyon, he counted an astounding 1,700 visitors.

There are many attractions to peak the interest of those fascinated in articles from yesteryear. There is railroad memorabilia on site, with new pieces being added on a “when found basis,” for example the pieces of rail from the tracks Paul’s father drove a speeder car on for 15 years. There are old signs, spikes, locks, tools, and the 28 ton Granite Rock Cenotaph War Memorial that found its place when the D9 Cat hauling it couldn’t pull it any further. The Cenotaph has a concrete base that boasts the Canadian flag and a bronze plaque commemorating those family members that have passed on with a canister for ashes on the backside.

Paul Lautard was born on Sept 28, 1932. He’s 84 years young and still going strong and each year he does the 10k walk for MS and the 25K Terry Fox Run.

The second largest celebration in British Columbia for the Trans Canada Trail Relay 2000 took place at the “Tunnel of Flags” outside of Greenwood.
From Volume 2 issue 7 of The Openminder April 6 2000

interview by Dave and Lillian Brummet
The ceremony will be held on April 27th, at approximately 10:00 am. There will be an MC, guest speakers and a performance of the national anthem by local students. At approxamitly 10:20 the water carriers will arrive. Following the short ceremony, the relay team will continue to Eholt and then Grand Forks.
The tunnel is a remnant of railway history and is now a Greenwood icon. 50 meters long and 10 meters high, you can not help but notice it with its multi-colored flags and steel rails sticking out of the jagged concrete. The artist behind the flags is Arno Hennig, who is also the mayor of Greenwood. He took the time to speak with us and show us the project, his enthusiasm being obvious when we visited the site with him.

“The tunnel was constructed in 1913 as a highway underpass with the CPR railway going over it. I think the tunnel was not built until 1913 because they needed access to Jewel Lake and Greenwood. Before, the road probably went over the railway tracks which was cumbersome. So they built a one way tunnel through it. Prior to that, there was a tressel crossing the creek, which they filled in with gravel later. This is what was usually done all through the Boundary Area. This worked fine until the traffic increased and the one way lanes did not go over too well. So in 1964 two tubes were built where the highway is now. Again, they dug right through the railway grade and poured concrete to create the two tubes.

The train was actually running over all three of them. They were all parallel to each other, you know, the two new ones were some distance away, about 150 – 200 feet. They took the railway out a number years ago, I am not sure of the exact date, but it was in the start of the 90’s. The area was a bit of a bottleneck. I actually knew some local people who got stuck in there, and some logging trucks got stuck too.

And then they decided to blow the two tubes up to open it for highway traffic. So, anyway, after they removed the debris, the original tunnel came to light. There were a couple spots where you could see some tops sticking out, just slightly. But most people, including myself, didn’t even know what it was! But anyway, they moved all the debris and the tunnel was still there. They tried to rip it apart. That is why the entrances are sort of jagged now. When they first dug it out, it was still in good shape. The people of Greenwood said ‘no you cannot blow it up; it is a part of Greenwood’s history’ – so we bought it for a dollar. (he laughs) And they gave us some land around it too!”

When he took us inside the tunnel, the graffiti was abundant and not always pleasing to the eye. The outside, visible to the highway, was once just as polluted with paint. This problem was discussed in a Greenwood city council meeting around August ’98. Arno explains how he became involved.

“I just casually mentioned, leave it to me, I will collect some old paint from people and obliterate it. I was not sure what I was going to do at first. I started out with red, white and black paint. So I began by painting squares, 2-by-2 feet, off-set so that it would look like a checkerboard pattern to cover the graffiti, starting with the worst. After having about 30 some squares done, I looked up and thought a Canadian Flag would look really nice up there. I thought the Canadian Flag deserved better than what could be achieved with recycled paint. Some of what I had was oil, some latex – which does not mix well. So I went to the local hardware store and was going to buy a quart of good red and white paint. And when I explained what I was going to do, Hardy Scott generously gave the paint to me!

So, after I put up the flag, I still had quite a bit of paint left. Then, since I am originally from Denmark, I painted the Danish Flag. And since we have a lot of people of Japanese origin in Greenwood, I wanted to honor them with a Japanese flag. And it just kept on going from there.
Now there are about 210 flags, 198 countries and 12 Canadian provinces – although I still have to put Nunavut on. There is also Greenwood’s logo, which is the largest design on the entire tunnel. Oh yeah, the logo for the Trans Canada Trail is on the tunnel too! And I have put the coat of arms from the Spree-Neisse region in Germany, who are partners with the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary.” The partnership is about student exchanges, athletic encounters and travel opportunities, as well as sharing in arts, culture and economic areas. We were amazed to find out the Tunnel of Flags was painted entirely by Arno himself. Although Arno says he is not an artist, he painted most of the flags free-hand. He began painting on August 10th, 1998 and finished August 9th, 1999, using only ladders to reach the top of the tunnel. Arno also planted some Bishops weed, which is very prolific and will keep on spreading.

“We are hoping to plant some wildflowers and whatever we can find. We found some old pictures and I am thinking of doing some scenes on the entrance, in a ghost like feeling, to give a feeling of time past. I would really like some artists to come and help with that project, maybe some student artists?…

I think it is important to mention that the Greenwood Community Association is the official sponsor of the tunnel – which you can read now on the legend. They donated a couple hundred dollars and Hardy has always given me a discount on the marine paint. But I had to use a lot of brushes and masking tape, too.

One of the many donors was the ex-mayor of Creston, and she donated a total of thirty dollars for the flags she wanted on it – like the Scottish flag. I would have done it anyway, but it was nice getting the help. She said she was from Scotland and if I painted a Scottish flag, she would donate ten bucks. I said you got it! (he laughs). She also wanted the Welsh flag; actually she did not even know if one existed so I looked it up, found it and put it up for her. So in the end she donated thirty dollars. ”

Being right on the highway the tunnel attracts a lot of people. According to statistics, between May and October over 450,000 vehicles are passing through Greenwood. Arno has kept a diary of all the stories of interesting people he has met while working on the tunnel.
“On graduation this last year, I was actually expecting some damage. Anyway I was out painting one Saturday, and this car came by with a boom box, you could hear it coming for a mile a way, and they rolled down the window and shouted at me, ‘We approve of what you are doing!’ (he smiles, obviously proud of the youth of Greenwood)

I was painting here one evening and from a car that pulled up, came this young dark skinned girl. She came running out, she was all excited and yelled ‘This is my flag! I am from Mexico!’ And so her fiance had me pose for a picture with her. I gave her a brush and she went running up the ladder with a great big smile to pose for another shot. Another time, a young woman came over here and said ‘This is beautiful!’ She was admiring the American flag. That is the only one I used a stencil for. I asked her where she was going and what she was doing and she told me she had been shot up in Bosnia while in the service over there, and was permanently disabled, taking a holiday using her pension. You could tell she was still suffering
A couple of young girls stopped over here one day for lunch, on their way back from camping at Christina Lake. I had forgotton a few important

things and asked them if they would mind looking after my stuff while I went back for them. So when I got back they were chatting up a storm with me! They wanted to know all about the flags. They seemed to be quite knowledgeable about most of the flags.
One day, there was this guy standing behind me who said what flag are you working on sir? (he laughs). That was the first time someone said sir to me!”

The upcoming Trans Canada Trail Relay has brought a lot of attention to the Boundary Area and is expected to draw a sizable crowd. There are over 800 communities across Canada participating in this special relay.

“We hope to have all kinds of dignitaries, the minister of highways, and we hope to see somebody from the CPR. Their preservation branch seems to be very excited about what we have done here with the tunnel. We are hoping that the CPR will give us a grant to build some walkways,put up a picnic table and plant some indigeonous plants to beautify the area and a plaque to say a little bit about the history of the landmark.”

There is a lot of railway history available at both the Greenwood and Grand Forks museums for those who want to really get into the history of it all. The old railway corridors throughout the Boundary are ideal for cross country skiing, snowmobiling, cycling and hiking because the average grade is about 3% making for easy travel.