Seymour Demonstration Forest, North Vancouver

 

A brisk early morning hike on Seymour Mountain with the dogs ended up being quite the adventure! And history lesson.  

This is the remained of the first bridge to cross the Seymour River, you can see Dakota trying to swim to the other side. It was built in 1907 – 1908 and was dismantled in 1992. The crossing carried a water main across the river and provided east-west access for pedestrians. A second bridge was built just north of the first in 1926 and removed in September 2009. For almost 70 years (1926 – 1992) those “twin bridges” served as a major corridor over the Seymour River.

The current Twin Bridges Trail provided the main access to the bridges and although both have since been removed, the trail name will remain in historical recognition of these early crossings. The current bridge will continue to serve the region as an important southerly crossing for both utility operations and public recreation.

In the late 1800’s logging, construction of a water pipeline and settlement began to encroach upon the surrounding forest. If you take a close look around you will find evidence of this past human activity.

This tunnel was once used for a water pipeline. The trail upon which we were standing was once a 2-lane gravel road.  It was a very narrow trail.

The nearby pool in the Seymour river was once used to store shingles bolts for the Hastings Shingle Manufacturing Company.

Even after this significant disturbance, a new forest has grown back to reclaim the area. These new trees and shrubs now hide many of the remnants of past human activity. We would have walked right by them if there had not been signage for us to read.