Shilo on an Aging Train Bridge

This old train bridge was part of the famed Kettle Valley historic railway. In summer 2003, a year after I made this photograph, it was burned to the ground in the enormous Okanagan Mountain Park forest fire. Many other original KVR bridges were lost as well.

I made this photograph the evening we arrived to rock climb at a small area outside of Kelowna, BC. Shilo, perpetually restless, was exploring the old bridge, climbing around in its rafters. In this photo, he is standing on a beam some 20 feet above the ground, surrounded by small trees that have grown up through the structure.

Many bridges have since been replaced in style, but it will be decades before the wood becomes greyed with weather, spotted with lichen, and surrounded again by healthy young trees.