Trail’s charm wins you over
It’s not an auspicious first impression.
As you descend from the absolutely adorable, self-described “alpine town” of Rossland into Trail, British Columbia, the valley proudly presents Teck Cominco’s smokestacks, busily churning out who-knows-what.
But Trail’s cheerful people, gorgeous pastries made from scratch, and proximity to outdoor recreation of all kinds will bring you right around in no time. The residents here are so upbeat, in fact, they even have a soft spot for the smokestacks.
“If Cominco wasn’t here, Trail would not be here,” said Annette Lovick, a travel consultant at Totem Travel.
We stumbled upon Totem Travel after finding the visitor information office across from the Trail Memorial Arena inexplicably closed for the weekend. If you want official advice about what to do in Trail, please limit your curiosity to Monday through Friday.
Lovick, on the other hand, doled out the ideas and the “ehs” with good-natured dispatch. She recommended Mountain Trek Fitness Retreat & Health Spa, a fitness, nutrition and relaxation lodge in nearby Nelson; mountain biking at Red Mountain; the rustic log cabins at The Lakewood Inn near Kaslo; and Christina Lake, about 45 minutes away, where there are ample camping, cottages, a lodge, and a bed and breakfast along its 14-mile length.
“That’s Little Trail over there in the summer,” she said of Christina Lake. “Anybody you want to get away from, they’re there, too.”
She then sent us down the street to Trail’s End Café, where the friendly service continued.
Brad and Donna Healey run this delightful spot, serving pasta, salads, sandwiches, wraps and more. The maize walls, brick fireplace and hardwood floors make it feel like a friend’s home, as long as your friends are suitably tasteful.
Judy Healey, Brad’s mom, waited on us and we let her talk us into the house-made specialty dessert: caramel chocolate cheesecake with pecans. Wow.
Before we got away, Judy called her mom to get us the name of the hiking trail that runs from Warfield into Rossland. And Lovick dropped by with the sunglasses we’d forgotten at Totem Travel.
Try as you might, it’s hard not to like this place.
Figuring a vigorous hike would render the cheesecake a wash, we set out, only to be waylaid by the most tempting of smells. Our noses led us straight down the block and into The Pastry Shop.
Rob Dunlap and his wife, Mary, have been turning out breads, cookies, muffins, cakes and other treats every Tuesday through Saturday since 1980.
“We make everything from scratch as much as we can,” Rob said.
The overwhelming availability of frozen, prepared ingredients has challenged the survival of neighborhood bakeries, he explained.
“This is what keeps me in business,” he said. “Customers come back because they can taste the difference.” Weekend visitors often extend their stay in Trail until Tuesday morning, he said, making one last bakery run on the way out of town.
After much dithering over my many options, I succumbed to the Copenhagen — a raisin and cream-filled pastry — and Tom, my fiancé and partner in overeating, had a bran and apple concoction. These two bundles of goodness alone were worth the 133-mile drive.
Now running a serious calorie surplus, we began our hike in earnest.
The trailhead sits just behind the Warfield Community Hall, partway between Trail and Rossland. The Kootenay Columbia Trails Society maintains a network of trails in the Rossland Range for hikers, mountain bikers, horseback riders and cross-country skiers. Some follow wagon paths, rail grades and even smugglers’ routes dating from the late 1800s or early 1900s.
Railgrade, the main track leading out of Warfield, rises only 3 percent over nearly six miles as it makes its way to Rossland, so it wasn’t the ideal solution to our gluttony.
But in a matter of a few steps, we found ourselves shielded from any sound of civilization by the spring creek running below the path. It was a lovely walk, although we never did find Rossland. The signage was not all it could be.
Closer to town, the “Neighbors to a Giant Walking Tour,” comprising the Tadanac Walk, the Upper Warfield Walk and the West Trail Walk, takes visitors through neighborhoods in and around Trail. These self-guided tours direct participants past a number of historic homes, tracing the history of Cominco’s presence in the area.
Tadanac, a 20-minute walk along flat terrain, is the easiest of the three. Warfield passes the former Cominco Farm, ending in Mickey Mouse Town, so named for the small scale of the homes built on four designs for Cominco employees, starting in 1938. The West Trail Walk celebrates Trail’s Italian heritage and the hillside neighborhood where many of its immigrants settled.
If, by chance, you’re hankering for a more full-immersion Teck Cominco experience, you’re in luck. Not only are you welcome to tour the smelter itself and learn how a small operation established in 1896 grew to become the world’s largest zinc and lead production complex, you’ll also find videos and interactive displays at the Teck Cominco Interpretive Centre downtown.
Should your taste run more toward art than industry, stop by VISAC (Visual Arts Center), in the humble basement of the Greater Trail Community Center. The gallery at VISAC shows work by regional artists Monday through Saturday afternoons. Admission is an affordable $2.
The performing arts space upstairs houses symphonies, popular music artists, the Boom Town Garter Girls burlesque, and Rossland Light Opera Players productions. And every Thursday in July and August, musicians perform in nearby Gyro Park.
The real spring and summer attractions, though, are further afield. The Columbia and Kootenay rivers provide whitewater rafting, and Toby Creek offers plenty of canoeing and kayaking opportunities.
For those looking to dip a line, Split-Shot Charters arranges four- to eight-hours trips on the Columbia River for rainbow trout fishing from April to October. And there’s more fishing to be found at Champion Lakes, Kootenay Lake and Arrow Lakes.
Golfers have four choices close at hand: Birchbank, an 18-hole course in Trail; a nine-hole course at Champion Lakes; the nine-hole Rossland Country Club, and the 18 holes at Christina Lake Golf Club.
To take advantage of the region’s growing interest in mountain biking, for the past few years Red Mountain has hosted a downhill competition in July.
According to Norm Hopkins, the ski shop’s ski expert, it’s gaining popularity. “There’s tons of biking around here,” he said, “and we’re getting a lot better at making trails.”
If a San Diego developer purchases Red Mountain, as local rumors predict, Hopkins thinks more year-around activities will follow. “It’s certainly got everybody excited,” he said.
No trip to Trail is complete without a night at The Colander. Everyone said so.
Not wishing to defy that pleasant but insistent instruction, off we dutifully went to wrap up our visit at this local restaurant institution. It’s a bright, loud, bustling Italian joint, full of families and seniors out on their Saturday night dates.
For $11.45, you get the Colander Special: tossed salad, spaghetti, meatballs, chicken, potatoes, a dinner roll and coffee. Was the food great? No. But it was so warmly served and the staff’s interest in our experience so obviously sincere, we found it simply delicious.
Really. It’s hard not to like this place.