Facts about the Myra Canyon Trestles
The year 2003 was the 5th year of drought in the Okanagan Valley, making forest fires a significant danger. In mid-August a lightning strike in Okanagan Mountain Park started just such a fire. Spreading many kilometres beyond its source it burned for nearly a month. Despite huge efforts to stop the fire, it consumed more than 200 homes in Kelowna and burned over 20,000 acres of forest and parkland. In the first week of September, it reached the Myra Canyon trestles and in the next few days destroyed 12 of the 16 wooden structures and damaged the two steel bridges. In the past ten years, all of the damaged trestles and trail have been restored to their former glory.
Today’s Highlights
Andrew writes: Views of Kelowna from up on high; pinning it downhill into Kelowna; a real, honest to goodness, -ing shower!
Today’s Lowlights
Andrew writes: More -ing, crappy, uphill both ways, in the snow, -ing KVR.
Cycling Stats
Start point: Chute Lake Rec Site, Chute Lake, Canada
Destination: Kelowna, Canada
67.97 trip, 14.32 km/h average speed, 47.27 km/h maximum speed
4:45 time on bike,
What happened…
Andrew writes:
I don’t know what it is about the mornings lately but I always seem to wake up on the wrong side of the sleeping pad and today was different. We really took our time having breakfast and packing up the tent and things, and it was probably 10 o’clock by the time we got started; yet as soon as we did, I hated every second of it! It was literally, back to the grind, slight uphill, sections of loose gravel, except now that it was Chute. Lake Road they added large potholes in the mix. So here I am riding along, and I start doing some mental math, and then it dawns on me, that today really was going be not that much different than yesterday; because when I looked at the map, the highest point on the entire KVR was in Myra Canyon about 35 km away. There was a light at the end of the tunnel though, and it was our Warmshowers host where we were going to be staying in Kelowna.
We saw Garnet and Clayton again as we were riding along, they stopped on the side of the trail evidently now in cellular phone range because they were both checking their phones for emails and calling family and whatnot and they passed us again short time later, and then we pass them etc. We came to the to large forest service road which would take it down into Colonna, And we had a short discussion on whether or not to just opt out now and pretty much finished the day. I guess I lost, because Amanda wanted to see all of the Railway trestles in Myra Canyon which were to be a highlight on not only today, but on the KVR in general.
So we pressed on, after another 7 km we got to the Bellevue trestle, which is the longest and highest on the entire trail and it was pretty long. Immediately afterward though we were mired in ankle deep sand again as we tried to push our bikes back out onto the trail. The trail did get better as it entered Mira Bellevue provincial Park, and they were definitely more signs of other cyclists. It was sort of like rush-hour, the high number of recreational cyclists just out for a weekend ride with their families in the park.
We stopped for lunch at Trestle#1 and in the distance we could see several other trestles which ring the canyon walls. I suppose the scenery was okay, and for the sheer novelty it was a nice section of the trail. The surface was flat, and compact. We finally got to the last trestle and exited the park and began a thrilling descent down the forest service road into Kelowna. This was probably my favorite part of the entire day, as I was able to take my hands off the brakes, tighten my sphincter, and just let the good times roll! I think when it was all said and done, the 8 km downhill took about 20 minutes; and that’s one of the rewards of climbing, are the down hills. When I reflect back on the kettle Valley Railway Trail I think it was really lacking in terms of rewards. Maybe the scenery could’ve been better or there could’ve been more downhill sections, I don’t know. perhaps it is just a matter of adjusting to life on bicycle routes without traffic and with ample campsites versus paved highways that are the exact opposite.
So while I would probably never admit this to Amanda, at this point in the ride, I had no idea where I was going. I hadn’t bothered to get the address of our Warmshowers host. I needed to find Internet or a telephone really bad so that I could call and find out how to get to their home. But of course, being the man that I am, I just started riding and hoped that Amanda would follow. She did of course, although she knew that we needed to find WiFi or telephone. At one point I saw someone out in front of the house washing their car, so I thought that I would ask them if I could borrow their telephone. I was really surprised when the homeowner just flat out said no and eyed me suspiciously! Perhaps there was a certain air of homelessness about me what with having been in the bush for the better part of almost 2 weeks. Still this is Canada, and I like to think that we’re nice even to cycling hobos like us.
As this was happening, Clayton and Garnett showed up and I borrowed their phone to call our host. After putting the address into my GPS, it didn’t seem like we had very far to go. Yet somehow it was still two hours of riding in sweltering heat. Amanda started getting cranky about the fact that we were “…going the wrong way”, since we were heading south and Vernon our destination for the next day, was north.
The shit really hit the fan as we were about to climb the massive hill that always seems to lurk right before a warm shower hosts house. Perhaps it was that 35° heat that caused us both to boil over at one another, resulting in me riding one direction, and Amanda riding another. Eventually cooler heads prevailed and we met up in the shade of some trees in a park to talk it all out. It turns out that my bad mood from much of the morning was infectious and Amanda spent the afternoon in a similar state. We set off up the hill and made it to Erik and Barb’s house – just in time for dinner.
We had planned on spending the rest day in Kelowna with Erik and Barb, And they were gracious enough to give us a whole room to ourselves. They also shared with us their food and drink, which included fresh raspberries with ice cream! Of course, after 10 days of bathing in lakes and rivers. the best part of the whole deal, was the gratuitous shower we each enjoyed. Ahhh, bliss!
Amanda writes:
Andrew woke up with a bit of a chip on his shoulder but I figured it would fade as we rode. His mood didn’t improve along the ride as he wasn’t too keen on the terrain. He seemed surprised that it wasn’t much better at the beginning than what we had already rode. Somehow I was expecting exactly what we were experiencing. The further we travelled the better the trail became. It was also nice to not continually be going up hill at 1%. I knew there was relief in site about half way because the trestle area would be ahead.
When we came across Garnet and Clayton, I left Andrew behind to chat with them in hopes that his mood would improve. They all eventually caught up and we took some cool pictures and video. We bombed down the forest service road for our descent and somehow that was almost depressing. We had climbed to the highest point on the Trans Canada Trail and that took us almost two days. It took a mere 20 minutes to get down. After we got onto the city streets I knew we were in East Kelowna and closer to Vernon that we had planned. Andrew tried to find a phone after which he asked if we should head North into town or head East on random roads to try and find our way. I said I wanted to head into town to find wifi and Andrew proceeded to go in the other direction. I get annoyed when he asks for my opinion on a route and then just disregards it. If he doesn’t plan on considering my opinion then don’t ask. As Andrew said we just road through winding roads of South Kelowna for over two hours trying to find our host. I was quite annoyed because had we just gone North when he asked, we would have had a better idea where we were at.
In any event arriving at Erik and Barb’s was incredible. I’m still new to the being hosted by WarmShowers.org hosts and more accustomed to being the host. Erik and Barb pulled out all the stops and made us feel right at home. Their Son Jesse gave up his games room for us and they treated us delicious meals, a tour of the City, a swimming pool in the yard and super enjoyable conversations. Erik is retired and Barb plans to retire soon too at which time they have hopes of traveling the world. I look forward to following their adventures.
Today’s Photographs
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