Hiking the Kettle Valley Railway

Now this is something.If you want to hike somewhere, aren't you just so lucky to have a turn of the 20th century disused railway bed track right in your back yard? The Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) spans about 455 km through BC over various terrains, and runs right thru Princeton. And, while not strictly right in the back yard, the part of the KVR above the cabin where we hiked is about a three kilometres hike straight up. (For all my West Coasters, just think Grouse Grind!) But past that vertical trek, there is the most glorious dirt road complete with trestle bridges and tunnels.So a small band of hikers got together consisting of Chloe, Bryson and me, three more parental units, two more twenty somethings, four dogs and two horses.This is General. He's is a bit too elderly now to be ridden up the steep climb, but he was happy to be brought along.Zoe was the lucky one to ride Levi uphill. She got a boost onto his back and off we went.I'll tell you something! I consider myself to be in pretty good shape, but boy did the steep incline ever leave me breathless! More Grouse Grind training for me I think! :(After about an hour we came to the top of the mountain and the KVR.Zoe dismounted and Chloe got to walk Levi. He kept nuzzling her ear and her backpack.The view from up here is breathtaking. We hiked up from way down there in the valley!The dogs were amazing companions. This is Henry, (whose real name is Eddie, but always looks like a Henry to me.)The aspen gold is so beautiful this time of year. I stuffed my pockets full of leaves. I don't even know why. Just that overwhelming desire to own some golden leaves and, as I write this, they're beside me positively glowing.We finally came to what we were looking for: this amazing tunnel!Chloe, Bryson and I stayed, but the rest of our merry band turned back for the cabin.But we stayed for this:C and B did a little bouldering, (with no crash pad, no ropes, no safety in place and C's broken/healing ankle, they were very careful.)While I explored this majestic place.After about an hour, (and with me trying my best not to stand under C to break her fall just in case -mothers...eh?- we hiked a bit further and I found a railway spike.Now, I have about a million railway spikes (marginal exaggeration) from the CP railway just outside my own cabin, but I just had to have this one from the majestic, old KVR.By the time we hiked down off the rail bed track, (via an alternate route which wasn't straight up! Why wasn't I told of this route earlier?), it was somewhere close to 5pm and the sun was setting. I think I'm going to read single pin bow sight reviews and buy one for next time so we can do little archery, but overall we were very happy having had the most glorious day.