morning fellow travelers today we're at the brilliant suspension bridge national historic
site let's go explore the brilliant suspension bridge is an early feat of engineering which
helped connect two Doukhobor settlements which existed on either side of the kootenay river
and created a vital transportation link that was used for the next 50 years built in 1913
it replaced a ferry crossing that existed at that site and cost just sixty thousand
dollars to build the bridge was designed by jr grant who later went on to design
bridges in the vancouver area including the burrard bridge and the granville street bridge
it's a suspension style bridge with two large steel reinforced concrete towers
and a set of cross beams supported by wire rope cables on either side
the bridge was constructed by a team of about a hundred volunteer Doukhobor workmen
in order to create space for the foundations of the bridge it was necessary to do some blasting
and unfortunately two Doukhobors were killed while attempting to thaw
dynamite in a frying pan however the rest of the construction went smoothly and it took just
six months to complete the bridge the bridge was decommissioned in the 1970s after construction
of a new highway bridge and the site was declared a national historic site in 1995.
but today the bridge is looking better than ever in 2010 a restoration project
was completed that cost just over a million dollars
day five of the road trip this is the last day got up bright and early this morning and now i'm
headed west i made a quick selfie stop this morning at salmo to see the world's largest
penny and now i'm in grand forks british columbia there's the sign
i'm at the alpine wildlife and taxidermy museum just outside of grand forks british columbia the
alpine taxidermy and wildlife museum highlights the collection of hunter and guide marty thomas
marty has been hunting guiding and doing taxidermy for about 30 years and wanted to
create the wildlife museum to allow visitors to see lifelike preserved species of many of the big
and small game found throughout british columbia marty is an expert hunting guide and taxidermists
with a respect for nature and he makes sure to use every part of the animals that he mounts in
2015 he was awarded bc's top guide from the guide outfitters association of british columbia and is
often found guiding groups throughout british columbia yukon Nunavut of it and the northern
territories inside the museum you can see examples of british
columbia's wildlife including a variety of species like deer bear and mountain goat
and i'm not much of a hunting enthusiast but it is interesting to see
some of the mounts and molds that are used in the taxidermy process
one of the showcases of the collection is this polar bear
which towers over guests at a height of over nine feet tall
outside the museum marty's wife marlene has created a cedar hedge maze for guests to enjoy
the thomas house enjoys putting on a haunted hedge
maze during the halloween season and a candy cane maze during christmas
yesterday i was saying how i hadn't seen much wildlife around and probably because
of the wildfires but uh yesterday i ended up seeing eight deer and this morning of course
well i had my dash camera off i saw three more deer and a bear very cool to see a bear that close
quick impromptu stop saw this by the side of the road and had to take a look
the tunnel of flags sits just outside of greenwood british columbia built around
1913 it was used to allow automotive traffic to pass under the rail line the single lane tunnel
was in service for about 50 years before being replaced by a new two-lane tunnel around 1964.
the old tunnel was filled up and forgotten but was uncovered again in 1993 during construction it was
uncovered and left standing beside the freeway as a historic structure but as historic and
abandoned structures often do it began to become a target for graffiti that was left by passersby
the mayor of greenwood decided to counteract this by having the tunnel painted with flags
from all over the world he turned this into a community initiative and by the
year 2000 the tunnel was decorated with flags from over 200 countries
but years later those flags have begun to fade and graffiti artists
have slowly begun to take back the tunnel with their creative artwork
midway is best known as mile zero of the kettle valley railway this rail line was
constructed in 1910 to carry goods between here and the west coast of british columbia
trains departing midway would head west through the meyer canyon trestles near kelowna
which are known as mccullough's wonder
and the line served the southern interior of british columbia for about 60 years before
being decommissioned today midway is still a popular jumping-off point for hikers and
cyclists looking to traverse the kettle valley railway section of the trans-canada trail
midway is home to some fascinating pioneer history which i'll explore more in an upcoming video
now from midway i'm gonna make a pretty straight shot home from
vancouver it's about a five hour drive here we go
thought it might be fitting to make this the last stop for the trip from the frank slide yesterday
to here at the hope slide today it's been a long five days and i'm tired but i got to see quite
a bit on this trip can't wait to show it all to you in the videos the trip wasn't without mishap
my engine light still is on so we're gonna have to get that checked out when i get home
but it looks like i'm going to make it thanks for coming along for the tour i'm looking
forward to another road trip already have to start planning that one out when i get back
remember to keep exploring and until next time it's time to exit through the gift shop