Okanagan Lake District: Part 4

A Brilliant Circuit!

Stuck indoors on a very wet Saturday as the last of the present storm systems smacks into the West Coast. Probably a good time to complete this series of posts. I took this first photo late Wednesday evening as the first wave of the storm suddenly cleared. Very dramatic!

The next morning there was again a break in the storm with the Canada Geese 'V'ing their way past a hint of a rainbow.



Our last ride in the Okanagan was a circumnavigation of Skaha Lake. It was the easiest and shortest ride on the trip with just a few hills along the eastern shore. We left in decent time to beat the worst of the heat and the traffic. The roadway along the eastern shore is known at times to be quite busy. 

Part way down the lake we pulled off to catch the view. I'd say that it was pretty nice looking to the west. A super calm morning, just as I remember from my childhood vacations.

The halfway point of our ride is the small village of Okanagan Falls, down to the left in the far distance.

There was a nice beach waiting for us in Okanagan Falls, and we took time there to sit in the shade and enjoy the warmth of the day and of course the view. We'd talked about carrying our swim suits, but decided that it might not be the best place to find a change room. We were right about that as it was closed due to Covid. So we contented ourselves with the view knowing that our swim gear and towels were waiting for us in Penticton at the other end of the lake. We just had to first get there!

The ride back begins by crossing this long narrow bridge. 

At first we passed a few cyclists and walkers, but there weren't many others as we progressed. We thought this section would be a good day hike for another time. It's about 14-15 kms between the two towns, so perhaps a 3 hour walk in the heat with stops for enjoying the views. Certainly it would be a beautiful walk with the majority of the trail simple crushed gravel and a small part is along a quiet paved road about half way along. The path also narrows as one heads north, basically down to a one lane tract.

Looking back towards Okanagan Falls and the low hills we had to negotiate on the eastern side.

I don't have a kick-stand on my bike, lol!

There were no vineyards evident on the return leg, but we could see them up higher on the eastern shore. We'd visited one of them the day before.



Lots of waterfowl friendly spots as we worked our way along. There were also a number of vacation resorts, one we just cycled through and another somewhat higher end property that typically had signs warning people away. Not interested in you anyway!!

We arrived back to the beautiful beaches on the south side of Penticton where we'd parked our car in the park. Deciding it was lunch time we enjoyed a massive Tilbury ice cream cone, a favourite experience for many in the south Okanagan. Their ice cream stand a couple of kilometres south of Okanagan Falls is a well visited destination. Fortunately the beach food stand in Penticton also offers their ice cream. I asked for one scoop on a normal cone and was overwhelmed with a massive scoop! I was kept rather busy eating it in the heat...

We then changed into our swim suits and jumped into the lake! The perfect thing to do after a rather warm ride.

The next day we went for a decent walk along the lakeshore in Peachland. Overnight the smoke had begun to arrive from the US, and while our general area was pretty good both Kelowna and Penticton were shrouded and invisible. 

I had planned for Annemarie to drop me the next morning in Penticton (far right) so that I could to ride up the mountains, across the KVR trail (directly opposite), through Myra Canyon and into Kelowna (far left) while she visited with her mom there. However the next day everything was covered in smoke (photo below) and I couldn't go. Probably a good thing because when we stopped in Vancouver on our way home Paul told me that it's a very tough crossing in that direction and that it's much better in the other direction, Kelowna to Penticton. More downhill with stunning views of the Okanagan Basin in that direction. So perhaps I'll tackle this another time. Always good to leave something to return for. We did feel lucky to have had 5 days without smoke while the coast was deeply covered. It was supposed to have happened in the Okanagan earlier, but the forecasters got it wrong. Thanks for that!

We stayed overnight in the Okanagan then drove down to Vancouver the next day. It was pretty smoky and it wouldn't have been healthy to continue camping. On the way down we crawled past a massive train derailment just downstream from Hope. 

I snapped some pictures on my phone as we passed as my navigator wasn't interested in taking photos that day. There were over 50 massive rail cars full of potash from Saskatchewan folded up and crushed. The amount of energy these long trains generate even at slow speeds is amazing. Stopping them quickly is impossible, so they just continue to crush together when one derails.


So Puck, that's the end of this particular journey. We hope you are feeling better and we will try to track down some information about your progress. Get well soon!

Our next journey lies just ahead as we await the birth of our first grandchild, aka, 'Our Pal'. We are waiting fairly patiently for your arrival! Hopefully we don't have to wait too long to welcome you: )

Looking forward to meeting you soon!

Grandpa

Okanagan Lake District: Part Three

Dem Hills, Dem Hills!

Today being the first day of Fall and perhaps the last decent day we are going to see for a while, we headed off for a ride to Sidney and back along trails and country roads. It was a wonderful way to spend the morning! Home to clean up a few outside things and tie down anything loose. The first major fall storms are to begin to arrive tonight packing strong winds and heavy doses of rain. Up to 200mm in some areas, though apparently less here. Good. It looks like our area will be spared the worst of it as we will have a bit of a bubble over us, but all areas surrounding our island tip will be tested. 

A few photos from today before I review our next ride in the Okanagan.

Halloween is just over a month away. Perhaps it's a Covid thing, but there doesn't seem to be as many pumpkins around this year. I'm sure the kids will be out, but maybe their parents are a bit Covid concerned? Guess time will tell. 

We had wonderful sun until about 15:00 when black clouds arrived and it cooled off considerably.

Our second ride was from Penticton to Naramata along the KVR Trail, out and back with a deviation into Naramata on the lake to have a look around.

It's a lovely ride and we began a slow steady climb right from the start.

As you can see, we climbed quickly. This is looking west across the glacier formed bench. With all the vineyards and estate wineries we could be cycling in SE France! It felt like that for both of us all day.



It wasn't very busy as we continued to climb. Such a beautiful way!

In the far distance to the south beyond Penticton is Skaha Lake, our ride for the next day.  



I put this view photo in to show the area we rode the previous day out beyond Summerland. You can see how the KVR Trail would trend upwards out of the volcanic basin on the way to Princeton.

Reaching Clark Road we began the decent into Naramata down on the lake.

Logically this was called Gulch Road: )  Very reminiscent of our wanders through SE France. Hot and dry!

Those are apple trees to the left. Just slotted right into the gulch.

Once at the lake we just wanted to throw ourselves in! Sadly we didn't think to carry our swim suites. We wouldn't make that mistake again! 

I could picture a summer spent reading at the end of this dock, watching the sunsets while sipping the excellent wines from the area. Probably a good thing that didn't come to be or I'd have a few kilos to shed! But isn't this special?!



We stopped for some refreshments in Naramata and then began the long, steep ride back up to the KVR. It was a hot climb which the guide book didn't cover very well. They called this ride easy, but believe me the climb up was taxing. It would have been much more enjoyable in the heat to walk it, but that's another journey. We had to figure out some deviations to get around road construction, but we managed ok. I think that added a bit to the climb out.

This was our 'lunch' stop. I spotted a small bench well above the trail on our way out that morning and made a mental note to stop there on our way back. Annemarie had found a chocolate brownie to share in a Naramata bakery which we thoroughly enjoyed with this view. It was a long lunch break with such a stunning view.

On our way again. With the exception of parts of the climb up from the lake, there was nothing we didn't like about this ride. We saw more than a few electric bikes on the KVR. As a matter of fact, we saw a ridiculous number of them while riding here at home today. I suppose it allows more people to get out on the trails and the roads, but I'm kind of not a fan. A lot of the people riding them weren't that old. Maybe I'll get one of those bikes when I get old; )

When we finished our ride for the day we drove off to scout out our planned ride for the next day and to check out several wineries on the Naramata Bench and also on the east side of Skaha Lake. 

We had Annemarie's Toyota Prius hybrid set-up with a trailer hitch just before departing and Paul kindly lent us their very cool bike rack to test out. It worked super well and even with a full vehicle we still managed to get about 900 kms per tank. Hybrids, electric and hopefully soon hydrogen based cars are the present and our future. We really have no choice with global warming now well upon us. I'm mentally prepared to get rid of my gasoline powered car and move to something else. I'd prefer to wait for the hydrogen powered cars, but I think that's realistically a decade away. Seems Tesla has a new battery that will extend its range by about 40%. Perhaps that's the solution for now?

Distracted again! This could be the portion of the Via Francigena that I was supposed to walk this year along Lake Lusanne in Switzerland. The Francigena transects the World Heritage vineyards in that area for about 2-3 stages. Thankfully I had a taste of similar scenery this year, but in all honesty it just made me want to head for the Francigena all the more...perhaps next year. 

We visited the winery across the valley that our daughter Caitlin recommended. She was spot on! We had a very good tasting and were fortunate in that the winery was a destination place out of the way of the general touring population. It was very quiet. Our wine box was slowly filling up: ) A good thing! 

Our next ride will be around this lake. The first half along the road on the east side of the lake until Okanagan Falls (to the left) and the other half along the KVR on the far side of the lake as we ride north back to Penticton (to the right).

This was a wonderful day spent riding in the Okanagan. We are both coming to appreciate the potential for many more rides in the coming years. Perhaps much of the time it would be too hot to walk these areas during the summer, but biking seems to suit this area and us just fine. If it's hot one simply rides earlier in the day carrying a good supply of water. The air stream generated with the speed of the bikes helped to keep us a bit cool even when it was around 30. 

Ok, time for dinner. Puck, I hope these photos are bring back a few good memories from your visits here. I'll post the final instalment of our Okanagan exploration in the next day or so. Seems we are going to be house bound anyway. There's always the wine that's ready to bottle as well and apples to be processed and dried.

Okanagan Lake District: Part Two

Ride No. 1: A Volcanic Circuit 

Just behind Summerland is an ancient volcanic caldera bereft of water. Over the years the basalt has eroded and with glaciation through the valley this glacial lake bed has left extremely fertile soil. Coupled with the hot summer sun and good slope aspects, this area has long been a fruit producing area. This particular crater is home to grapes and apples. Light traffic also makes it a perfect place to cycle and walk. 

Certainly it's not flat! We found climbs almost as soon as we moved to the north and away from the  main town centre where we'd parked our car. It was warm with temperatures rising to 30 as the day progressed. I for one welcomed the warmth knowing that fall and then winter lay just ahead. On top of that is the possibility of more isolation with a second wave of C19 unfortunately predicted to settle in. Sunny days, bring them on!

We found this cool looking older barn as we looked for at turn that would take us higher up the side of the north end of the crater. I've no idea how old this barn is, but it has a very interesting design and 
older construction style. We certainly liked it.
Before we left home we had discussed that it would be time to harvest the apples on our two heavily laden apple trees on our return. However when I saw the fruit on the trees in the Okanagan I realized that we still had loads of time. Home almost a week now I'm only now taking a few apples from the tree for dehydration purposed as we put away food from the garden for the coming covid winter. It seems like an especially positive and necessary thing to do this year, though we do this every year. A way to prepare to hunker down and wait out the invisible virus. 

There are a lot of apple plantations in the crater, and it logically turns out there is also a serious cider industry here. Makes sense. Some of the trees are farmed in the traditional manner with full branches while others are planted in rows and pruned like grape vines, I assume to permit mechanized harvesting. The trees were heavily loaded with fruit!

Eventually all good things come to an end, and just like on our long walks the hills showed themselves and challenged us to take them on. 

It was a bit of a grind as we climbed then levelled of, then climbed again. Not having full on road bikes, our gearing system isn't really conducive to climbing, but we managed. 

The views began to improve as we climbed above the farm land and the volcanics of the area presented themselves a bit more clearly. We transitioned into grazing lands, but we didn't see anyone or anything grazing. Odd. Perhaps the cows were on vacation?

And still the climbs continued. Not brutal climbs, but steady climbs that I love when on foot. On a bike they are 'interesting'.

I think about now Annemarie's beginning to think that those electric bikes we've seen sound pretty good! Surprisingly we've seen quite a few young people riding them. What's that about?

We climbed higher still and started to get into that Okanagan scrub and treed countryside that I remember fondly from the summers of my youth. I was enjoying this very much. Though we have made considerable efforts to stay active through the Covid-19 isolation we have also found that much of that has eventually become, well, routine. What a wonderful change! 

Most of it anyway. Cycling up 14% grades in the heat isn't a whole lot of fun. But hey, there was a strategically positioned outhouse! Why aren't these available on the camino? Not the first time I've asked this question. A good little business for someone. Maybe 'good' isn't quite the right word, but you get my point.

We found the Kettle Valley Railway Trail (KVR) as was indicated in our guide book. In this area it's also part of The Great Trail that runs across Canada and also up into the far north. It's some 24,134 kms in length, the longest continuous trail in the world. Excited to find this old railway bed we set off in earnest believing that much of the climbing was behind us. 

The trail was just excellent. We met a number of folks coming from the other direction with heavily laden bikes who had obviously been camping their way along the trail. This should have twigged something. 

We kept on peddling along, climbing all the while. A long steady grind as we searched for the road that the guide said we would eventually turn off on.

We rode and rode. At one point I saw a road far ahead and I told Annemarie to wait in the shade of a tree while I went ahead downhill to see if I could figure out where we were...no cell coverage in this area. Then she wouldn't have to ride back up. I got to the bottom and with no idea of our location decided the only thing to do was to turn around. I rode back 'downhill' to Annemarie and then it began to make sense. The trees along the narrow track had formed a bit of an optical illusion. What had looked downhill was actually up! Not a steep up, but a steady climb upwards. We wondered why we'd always seemed to be working so hard. Turning around we exited the area at a good clip because we were going downhill most of the way!

Returning to where we began the trail we reviewed the basic photo of the guide book I'd taken with my phone and realized that we'd made a simple mistake that when walking would likely never have happened. Moving much faster and knowing the KVR was our turn off, we just naturally turned onto it when we came to it. The sign which read "Summerland to Princeton" should have nudged our brains. We'd been riding west up the long climb to the summit that would later take us down into Princeton! Oops. 

We figured out that we should have ridden along the road a bit further, past the steam railway station and then turned east towards the lake on the KVR 'Summerland to Penticton' section. We missed our turn by a couple hundred meters.

Now turned around and on the correct part of the KVR we did in fact begin a slow decent towards the lake through some pretty nice country.

The riding was easy and our hot, tired bodies revelled in the easy trail through the shade of the beautiful trees. The nature was wonderful!

At one stage there was a point of interest detailing the famous poem about the cremation of Sam McGee. Canadian folk lore. There were also some other historical postings along the trail that we stopped to read. Loads of history about the Indigenous Peoples, the European explores and fur trade that provided routes through this part of Canada and opened things up to the west. 



Still enough energy to smile!

High on the crater wall looking east towards Summerland and Okanagan Lake. At the beginning of our ride we cycled westward along the far side of the valley. Still well above the vineyards and apple orchards in the very dry scrub lands. 

Sometimes sitting at home living our daily lives it's easy to forget just how beautiful our country is. Of course I could also say this about many of the beautiful countries we've been privileged to experience.

A rare photo of the author on this particular trip. Hi Puck!

After a long day of riding, a downhill stage to the finish sounded pretty good until we realized that this meant a very steep section on a gravel trail. A 25% slope is pretty darn steep! After all, it was 'only' a 14% gradient on the way up all those kilometres ago? We both held on to our handles and brakes fairly tightly

: )

We survived the decent and made our way back into Summerland where we collect our car, shopped for groceries and ice and made our way back to our lakeside campsite. A swim and a cold beer followed! Not a bad day of riding. Amazingly we still had no smoke from the massive forest fires in America that was plaguing Vancouver, Victoria and the coastal areas. Air quality ratings there were posted at their highest level, 10+! We were to learn that people were largely staying in doors as it was considered too dangerous for much of the population to venture outside. We were fortunate indeed!

I'll post our next ride in a day or so. I'm enjoying reviewing the travel after the fact when I have a bit more time. Nicer than at the end of a long walking day when sometimes all I really want to do is shower, have a cold beer and take a short nap before dinner: )