This week we visit Niagara Falls. Not the big famous one, but a little known tiny waterfall located at Goldstream Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. I don't know why they named it the same as the one in Ontario, as the two waterfalls look nothing alike.

We started the hike towards the waterfall from the trailhead and it was a short hike along the trail to reach the waterfall. Along the way, we saw that the Niagara Creek was completely dried up, because it was in the middle of summer. But during rainy season, the creek does fill up and has a good amount of waterflow. We spent some time admiring the tiny waterfall, took some pictures, then continued the trail towards the Goldstream Railway Trestle. The trail had some minor elevation gain as it cuts through the forest, and eventually we emerged from the forest into a clearing where we were greeted with a long and abandoned railway trestle. We found that the rails were still intact on the trestle. I might be wrong, but I recall reading something along the lines of this trestle being still operational and can be used as a backup route for trains if needed. But the trains nowadays use a main route, and the Goldstream trestle is mainly a tourist attraction. Upon searching on the internet a bit more, it seems that permanent barriers had been installed at the trestles in 2021 to prevent people from getting on them as a suicide prevention strategy. After spending some time at the trestle, we continued on trail looking for the supposed gold mine. Eventually, we reached a small cave entrance which was believed to be a gold mine. We found a plaque, reading:

This post marks the second last post of my waterfall mini-series and we will end this mini-series next week with the final waterfall post. I probably won't be able to end the series with a bang, but I think we can at least end it with a big roar.

Info board with trail maps of Goldstream Provincial Park.

Niagara Creek was dried up in the summer.

Nicely hand made trail map.

Approaching Niagara Falls, not the one you think.

Close up view of the waterfall.

Kids having fun walking on logs.

We passed by a small creek on the way towards the trestle.

Walking on Goldstream Trestle. It was still open to public in summer of 2020.

My daughter admiring the view from standing on the trestle.

Looking down through the wooden planks. The trestle is quite high up.

Better perspective of how the trestle sits across the Niagara Canyon.

Bottom section of the trestle.

Info plaque about the gold mine / tunnel.

The gold mine / tunnel.

Check out my previous hikes: