Why the Okanagan Should Be on Every Mountain Biker’s Radar
Sunshine, vineyards, wine, breweries, beaches, boats: these are all words that come to mind when you think of a trip to the Okanagan. And yes, these things all do exist in the valley, and they are world-class. However, did you know that Trailforks lists over 3,500 km of trails between Osoyoos, Penticton, West Kelowna, Kelowna, and Vernon? My friend Chancellor and I set out on a northbound road trip through the Okanagan to explore some of these trails, relax at some laid-back campgrounds, connect with locals, and, of course, enjoy some beach time in the sun.
Osoyoos
We began our trip in Osoyoos, where we met up with Trail Builder and Osoyoos Bike Club president Matt Williams and his friend Rich, who offered to show us around the up-and-coming trail network. We happened to arrive in the valley on a beautiful hot sunny day, which led us to take a shorter-than-planned ride. We sweated our way up the climb and through the desert heat to the top of their two double black trails, Don’t, and Skip It. These two trails are not for the faint of heart; with some highly technical, high-consequence rock lines and chutes, they are sure to get the adrenaline pumping for any riders who are used to sending double blacks throughout the Sea-to-Sky and Kootenay regions.
The two double black trails led us down to Gun Show and Moving Target, a black and a blue trail that wind through the regenerating post-wildfire forest, full of fireweed and other wildflowers. Both of these trails were very approachable, with ride-arounds available on any challenging features. Matt has been working hard over the past five years to build this trail network from the ground up. Currently, Matt and the club are still in the process of getting the network sanctioned, and its trails are still a little rough around the edges. That being said, the more people who go explore this MTB playground, the more likely the various interest groups are to get behind this project and turn it into a network that rivals the other more developed destinations in the Okanagan that have been decades in the making. After our ride with Matt, we headed to the Nk’Mip campground and pulled into a waterfront camp spot, immediately jumping into Osoyoos Lake to cool off after the toasty hot bike ride.
When we awoke the following day, the heat was cooking and we opted to spend the day exploring the town. We started with a visit to the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre, where we saw some artifacts and learned about the culture and history of the Syilx people who have lived in the area for thousands of years. The cultural centre had a network of interpretive trails that wind through sagebrush and other desert shrubs and take you past a traditional village site with a pit house in which the Syilx people spent their winters.
After the Cultural Centre, we went for a quick pedal on a gravel path along the Okanagan River on the north end of Osoyoos Lake and then grabbed a burger and beer at the Sage Pub before heading back to our campsite to swim and bake in the sun. Sure, it can get hot in the desert, but that’s not really a problem when you have the lake to fall back on… or should I say fall in?
The following morning, we packed up our camp and headed north on Highway 97 for the next leg of our trip.
Penticton
Driving between Osoyoos and Penticton, you’ll enjoy views of vineyards, the Okanagan River, Vaseux Lake, and Skaha Lake, but among these grand sights, there is one spot where you need to stop: Tickleberry Ice Cream. And so, our journey to Penticton began with some waffle cones stacked with cold, creamy goodness.
As we arrived in Penticton, we pulled into Wrights Beach Campground and found ourselves an epic spot overlooking Skaha Lake. We set up our camp and then hopped in the van and drove to Freedom Bike Shop on Main Street in Penticton so that Chancellor could grab a new pair of gloves. We then continued down Main Street and found a food truck near the shore of Okanagan Lake to grab some lunch.
With our bodies fueled up, we drove into Naramata for a quick swim to cool off before meeting up with local legend Josh Shulman, who was going to guide us around the Three Blind Mice trail network for the evening. We started our descent from the top of the network down a fun and fast blue trail called Sidewinder. We then connected onto Jose, a black trail that traverses across a ridge with epic views of Skaha Lake, the City of Penticton and Okanagan Lake, before dropping into some tech rock features and steep chutes. About mid-way down Jose, Chancellor blew a hole in his tire when sending a rock roll with a chunky rock exit. Thankfully we had some tire plugs, and he was back on the saddle in no time. From there, we rode Mule Deer, High Roller, Drops a Lot, Jack and Jill, and finished with Flow Coaster. This link-up of trails was a ton of fun and provided a little bit of everything in terms of views, terrain, and trail features!
After our ride, we drove back to our camp and arrived just past dark. We went to bed early and woke up to enjoy the beautiful views over Skaha Lake while having coffee and breakfast at camp. The next leg of the trip was upon us, and we hit the road for Kelowna.
Kelowna
We arrived in West Kelowna hungry and made a quick stop at Kekuli Café for some bannock tacos, a classic Indigenous meal with roots in the early colonial era. I had a salmon Bannock taco and got a saskatoon berry icing bannock for dessert. With our bellies full, we headed to Bear Creek Provincial Park to set up camp for the night before heading out for a bike ride.
Before we made it to the trailhead, we had to make another bike shop pit stop at Cyclepath Kelowna, so Chancellor could pick up a new tire as he didn’t want to ride the rest of the trip with a plug. He decided to get something with a tougher sidewall to help him with taking on the chunky rocky trails of the Okanagan. The staff were great and had us in and out in a flash.
With fresh rubber on Chancellor’s bike, we headed straight to the lake for a swim at Sarsons Lake Park, a small beach conveniently located on the way to the trail network. Next, we headed up Chute Lake Road to the Gillard parking lot where we met up with local trail builder Cam Lainchbury who showed us around the network.
Gillard was previously a shuttle-only network, but thanks to the hard work of MTBCO they have a newly completed climb trail that improves access to the network. At Gillard, we rode Nip and Tuck, La Petite, Upper, Middle, and Lower Snake’s Back, and Boss Hog. This is a connection of trails that is approachable for any intermediate rider, yet also enjoyable for advanced riders. There are a handful of optional medium to large features along the way that keep things exciting, like the notorious rock roll and bridge drop to slab landing on Boss Hog. When we hopped out onto Boss Hog, the sun was just about to fall behind the mountain, and we were gifted with an epic sunset session on the final feature of Boss Hog: a fun rock jump to slab landing.
After the ride, we rolled back to Bear Creek, ate some food, and went to bed feeling the fatigue as we checked off day four of our trip with two more days of riding to go before heading home. In the morning, we packed up the camp and made a quick stop at the Bear Creek day-use area for a swim on the golden sand beach, a perfect way to start the day before hitting the road for Vernon.
Vernon
After crossing the bridge over Okanagan Lake, the road led us north past Ellison and Wood Lake, and finally to one of my favourite lakes in the Okanagan, Kalamalka Lake! Kalamalka is a marl lake, which in basic terms, means it is full of minerals that give it a bright blue tropical colour in the summertime! After briefly stopping by Kalamalka Lake we drove up to Cedar Falls campground and set up camp before going to meet North Okanagan Cycling Society’s Secretary and Events Director, Sabina Eschbach.
Sabina led us down Rock is the New Berm at Sovereign Lake, which, as you could guess, had a lot of fun rock features and no berms! From the bottom of that trail, we crossed the highway and rode down Spanky’s Descent, which was a fun, fast, flowy, and loamy trail with a few tech sections.
Spanky’s led onto the BX Creek Trail, which is a multi-use trail; it was important to stay alert for hikers while flowing down this last stretch. While Rock is the New Berm and the other trails at Sovereign Lake are all pedal-accessible, it is recommended to have a shuttle for riding Spanky’s, as the only way to pedal access this trail is by taking the highway. During our ride, we worked up quite a hunger and quickly zipped down into Vernon for a late-night meal before returning to our campsite for the night to rest up for our final day of the trip!
For the final day, we drove up to the King Edward Plateau to ride a newly opened trail called Super Connected. We parked at the top and immediately dropped into some fun tech rock features before leading us into an optional line which might be the biggest rock roll in the Okanagan. Thankfully, the roll was built well by local company Contour Trails, with a machine-pushed ride-out, making for a smooth transition. Chancellor greased it without hesitation and went back up for seconds and thirds because he was so stoked on the feature! After that, we briefly hopped onto a loamy blue trail called Blazin n’ Grazin before landing on the climb trail Pali Gap, which took us back to the van. With more time and energy, it would have been rad day to have parked at the Cougar Canyon Parking lot in Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park and pedalled all the way up to Super Connected for an epic descent all the way back down.
And so there we were, at the end of our trip, sweaty and dirty loading our bikes onto the back of the van feeling ready to head back home to the coast. As we rolled out of Vernon, we made one last stop at Kekuli Bay Provincial Park for a quick swim in Kalamalka Lake because some part of us was not quite ready to say goodbye to lake life.