RAIL TRAIL to TROUP BEACH (5 Mile Point)
An easy, gently walk on an abandoned rail trail ending up at a great beach on the West Arm of Kootenay Lake 8kms east of Nelson
Difficulty: easy 2.4% grade
Elevation Gain/Loss: 164m
Key Elevations: Svoboda Road parking 693m / 2274 feet. Troup Beach 533m / 1749’
Distance: 12.5kms
Time: 2½-3 hours
Season: Year-around
Access: easy, 2WD. Copious parking on Svoboda Road
Map: 82F/11, trailforks.com
Drive: From downtown Nelson, follow the signs east toward Balfour and HWY 3A. Two blocks before the Orange Bridge at a Husky Service Station, turn right on Elwyn St and travel uphill, passing the 10th Street Campus of Selkirk College on the left just before Elwyn turns to a dirt road.
Continue to a T intersection and turn left onto Svoboda Road to near the Great Northern Trail. Parking is copious and easy.
Trail: Leaving the city, the trail continues to descend at about 2.4% down to Troup Junction, where it crosses the active CPR, and terminates on the fan of Five Mile Creek, for 12.5kms, the end of the 48-kilometre long Salmo-Troup Rail Trail.
From the parking area on Svoboda Road, this is a walk in the woods with few views. Cross three long wooden bridges and pass through rock cuts and the occasional rock slide. At the end is a red picnic table.
A small trail descends from the Rail Trail, crosses the active railway, and descends to the shoreline.
Troup Beach (Five Mile Point) is beautiful when the water level is low. A sand bar forms a natural bridge between Kootenay Lake and a small captive pond. Another sand bar points straight out to the middle of Kootenay Lake. The water is very shallow and clear.
Looking back towards Nelson, the orange bridge is 8km in the distance.
Return the same way.
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References:
https://www.trailforks.com/trails/nelson-salmo-great-northern-trail-the-great-trail/
https://westkootenayhiking.ca/rail-trail-to-five-mile-point/