Our Trip to Hell's Gate, British Columbia, Canada

On our way back from our holiday in British Columbia last summer we decided to stop and see Hell's Gate. Hell's Gate is along the Transcanada highway not too far from the coast. The Fraser river runs next to the highway and there is a set of train tracks high up on both banks of the river. There is a tram that takes you down to the tourist area from the parking area next to the highway.

This eagle carving was in the building up top where you get on to the tram.

The tram operator told us that there is a trail that you can take to get to the bottom without using the tram. He said it takes the better part of a day to get down and it certainly is not a hike for beginners. Every year people try to go on foot but once they get to the bottom, they generally beg to take the tram back.

The tram operator said the trail has got a few tricky spots going downhill and it is a deceptively long, winding trail. They say they don't offer rides one way. I suspect that is to discourage people from making the mistake of taking the trail. I'd be willing to bet they don't turn anyone away that begs for a ride back.

This is the fishway, the fishway was put in to help the salmon spawn. Historically the fish had always spawned through this area. The local natives harvested the fish and used them as a source of food. Canadian Pacific Railway had a set of tracks on one side of the river. Canadian Northern Railway started constructing tracks on the other side of the river and in 1914 they caused a rockslide that fell into the river.

The river became too violent for the salmon to cross. They said there was a point where the local natives were netting the fish on one side and releasing them on the other to assist the salmon in spawning. The salmon were an important source of food and trade.

Eventually with pressure from the natives the river was cleared of debris as much as possible and the fishway was constructed to assist the salmon in spawning. The fishway has wiers that flood and drain to give the salmon a less turbulent path to travel upstream and downstream.

There was a suspension bridge at the bottom that you could cross to the other side of the river and walk up to the train tracks. The bridge was made out of grating and you could look through the grating at the river below. It gives a funny feeling to be standing over such a turbulent body of water.

This is the tourist area as seen from the other side of the river. I have very few pictures of the tourist area itself. There was as ice cream stand and a gift shop. There were sign boards and benches. I don't like getting pictures of all the man made clutter in the tourist areas especially in a beautiful natural area like this.

I was able to walk up and look at the railway snowshed. These are to protect the train tracks from getting blocked by avalanches. There was a danger sign warning that it was illegal to trespass on railway property.

This is the view of the tram from up by the snowshed.

There was a pay telescope you could use to look at the fishway. I just used my camera.

In the main part of the tourist area they had a nice little treed in area that you could sit. There was a bird eating from a bird feeder that was there.

Hell's Gate was a really cool place to check out. The fishway is an amazing piece of engineering. It's hard to believe they did all of that for the fish but it's good that they did.