This awe inspiring natural arch has to be seen to be believed. It is the largest arch in Canada. Photographer Ellis Anderson might have been the first to call it the Brooklyn Bridge. The earliest known use of the name is on a postcard he produced in the late 1960s or early ‘70s. His caption read: “Brooklyn Bridge (Renata Bridge) is the largest natural rock bridge in Canada — 65 feet high by 140 feet long.”
The Renata Natural Arch can only be reached by boat. Caution: sudden strong winds can arise on Lower Arrow Lake. Be careful on the lake as there is a tremendous amount of fetch from the west and waves can become very dangerous. Pull boats well up on the beach, before heading up the trail.
Difficulty: Easy A1
Elevation gained: 250m (820’)
Key Elevations: Arrow Lake 453m / 1486′, Arch 703m / 2306′
Distance: 1.5 km each way
Time: 2.5 hours round trip
Season: All year-round
Map: 82N/5 Castlegar
Drive:
From Nelson. Drive Hwy 3A west to Castlegar and just before the bridge across the Kootenay River, take the exit right towards Robson and Syringa Creek Provincial Park. After 3.3km, turn right onto Broadwater Rd and proceed toward Robson. Left goes to the major bridge across the Columbia. Zero odometer.
From Castlegar. Go through downtown Castlegar and cross the Columbia River and turn left onto Broadwater Road in Robson. Zero odometer.
0.0km Broadwater Road, Robson
11.8km. Pass Hugh Keenleyside Dam (completed 1968)
20.3km. Just before the yellow gates of Syringa Creek Provincial Park, turn right onto the gravel Deer Park Forest Service Road. Follow this narrow, good 2-wheel drive gravel road for approximately 15kms to the community of Deer Park. There are one-lane-only sections with traffic possibly coming the other way. Logging trucks also use the road and must be given lots of room and the right-of-way.
35km. Deer Park. Turn right to drive through the tiny community.
In Deer Park, there is not a boat launch but this is the best place if canoeing or kayaking across the lake. Instead of right, turn left and proceed down to the water to launch your boat. The crossing is about 2.1 km. Paddle your kayak/canoe almost directly across to Brooklyn, at the mouth of Pup Creek.
An alternate boat access is 5 km past Deer Park at the government boat launch where a large dock, good parking and washrooms are located.
The closest concrete boat launch is at Syringa Creek Provincial Park, so if you have a powerboat, launch from here and travel 15.5 km southwest up the Lower Arrow Lake to Brooklyn. Brooklyn is directly across from Deer Park.
Trail: Just past the homes in Brooklyn, look for the “Renata Natural Arch Recreation Trail” sign on the beach. Pull your boat up on the beach, or anchor off shore. Most of the trail has a moderate grade with switchbacks but some sections can be steep and dry (wear good hiking shoes). There are many steep ledges and some sections of loose material. A small steep creek crossing can be swift in spring and might be difficult for dogs to cross.
Rounding the last curve in the trail, the huge stone arch comes into sight. The view of it from the lake does not prepare you for the magnitude and grandeur of this amazing geological formation. One of the most awe-inspiring views is from underneath the arch. From here the 3m wide and 6m thick arch stretches 45m (148 feet) across the gully. From the top of the arch to the ground below is 34m (112 feet) and the bottom is 20m off the ground. Sitting under the arch, one sees Lower Arrow Lake and the Norns range framed in stone. Under the arch, the trail splits – a short branch to the left leads to a refreshing pool filled with water; a somewhat longer branch heads up to the top of the arch along a challenging trail over massive roots of trees. Once on top what a view!
Technically this is a bridge, not an arch. Bridges are formed by water flowing under them, and arches by erosional forces inherent in the rock. The arch was formed over geologic time as water from a small pond fed by the existing creek gradually weakened the underlying rock. If one looks carefully, chunks of the crumbly eroded black lamprophyre rock can still be found in the debris under the arch and along the walls.
BROOKLYN
The boomtown of Brooklyn, on Lower Arrow Lake, came to life in 1898 as the construction headquarters of the Columbia and Western Railway and died once the railway was completed.
The earliest mention came in the Victoria Daily Colonist of June 23, 1898: “James Wilson, formerly street superintendent of Victoria, arrived today at Brooklyn, the newest city of the Kootenay country, which has within the past week sprung up …” A month later the Colonist added: “Some little distance this side of Robson the steamer runs alongside a camp with the pretentious sounding name of Brooklyn.”
Townsite owner William Parker pre-empted the land a few years earlier and built a log cabin. According to Clara Graham in Kootenay Mosaic, he named it after his native Brooklyn, New York. (In turn, a natural arch in the area is sometimes called the Brooklyn Bridge.)
The townsite consisted of Lake, First, Second, and Third streets, plus Park, Brooklyn, Larson, Stewart, and Whitmore avenues. The Brooklyn post office opened on October 1, 1898, closed on November 20, 1899, re-opened on December 18, 1899, and closed for good on May 1, 1900.
By 1911, J.E. Annable of Nelson acquired the vacant townsite and began subdividing it into orchard lands, anticipating the arrival of a dozen families from Alberta. He soon sold 517 acres to C.W. Stirling and Co. of Moose Jaw who hired every man available at nearby Deer Park to continue land clearing.
The Brooklyn townsite today is just a field, accessible only by boat, 16 kilometres north of the Hugh Keenleyside dam.