Selkirk Trestle to Switch Bridge GG1
Hike Report Jan 8, 2013
6 enthusiastic (initially anyway) hikers braved the constant rain to complete the first 10 km of the Galloping Goose. It was a soggy day and good test of rain gear and perseverance. A weatherproof camera would have worked well. 10 km done, with 45 km to go!
Everyone who completes even one section will receive a momento marked with the kilometres they have covered in this year's Goose Gallop.
Directions
We'll all meet at the Centre at 9:15 and car pool with at least two vehicles. We will drop off one vehicle at Atkins Road parking (next to Star Auto) and proceed to parking near the Johnson Street Bridge.
Atkins Road Galloping Goose Parking Lot
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There is often some free parking in this area of Tyee Road
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or here on Harbour Road
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We'll then complete the first 10k of the Galloping Goose as described below (from the official guide)
The Galloping Goose Regional Trail starts at the east end of the Johnson
Street bridge — trailside kilometre markers are measured from here.
After crossing the bridge, the trail continues as Harbour Road until it
picks up the paved trail near the Point Ellice Bridge and skirts the
Upper Harbour to the Selkirk Trestle now less than a kilometre ahead.
The Selkirk Trestle — a 300-metre long, fir and hemlock trestle — spans
the Selkirk Waters, a bulge in the narrow saltwater inlet curving
north-west from Victoria’s Inner Harbour to the Gorge and Portage
inlets. Though signs of a changing downtown Victoria dominate the
southern view, the immediate environs are mostly tranquil, with lush
poplars, willows and maples pushing to the shoreline and softening the
urban landscape.
The trestle itself is five metres wide — ample room for the hundreds of
strollers and cyclists on a Sunday afternoon outing. There’s even room
for the occasional fisher casting over the railing for herring.
Though the trestle is wide, the surface can get slippery after
wet weather. If you’re on wheels, check your speed and watch
out for other trail users. You can access the bridge at either end: from
the south, take Tyee Road to Arthur Currie Lane; from the north, drop
down from Gorge Road East, a block west of Jutland Road.
From the bridge, in rapid succession, the trail scurries under the Gorge
Road East bridge and the Burnside Road East bridge. A huge mural
brightens up one of the massive, cast concrete bridges. The Goose emerges
into the warehouse and light industry district just west of Douglas
Street. It’s stop-and-go here. The trail crosses six urban roads in a
row. At many of them, you must yield to road traffic, so stay alert. Up
ahead: the Switch Bridge. The Switch Bridge, a 100 metre span
across the Trans-Canada Highway, marks another important milestone
in the life of the Goose. Until the Switch Bridge, the busy highway
blocked flow along the Goose. When the bridge opened in 1996, the Goose
gained easy, uninterrupted access to Victoria.
