Rails to Trails and the NorthStar

Now that our beautiful Rails to Trails is free of snow and debris and is being very well used once more, many are also asking about the competition launched in November of 2010 to name the trail.


We have learned the committee unanimously supported the name ‘NorthStar Trail’.

This would make sense considering the first mine opened at Kimberley was the North Star. North Star was also the name given to the junction where the C.P.R. branch line built to haul the ore left the main line close to Cranbrook. We owe the existence of the railway to the mine. The name shares historical meaning for both Cranbrook and Kimberley and rolls off the tongue as well as the wheels that rotate between the two communities.

So from the NorthStar Trail come these beautiful scenes captured on Sunday May 22nd

Yellow Balsam Root and purple Larkspur in the foreground