Kettle Valley Railway trail, Midway to Penticton
or Tour de Mud
June 9th to 12th, 2008
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| Midway to Beaverdell: click to jump to these pictures |
| Beaverdell to Idabel Lake: click to jump to these pictures |
| Myra Canyon: click to jump to these pictures |
| Idabel Lake to Chute Lake: click to jump to these pictures |
| Chute Lake to Penticton: click to jump to these pictures |
| Below are 132 pictures that show our bike trip on the Kettle Valley Railway from Midway to Penticton (a.k.a. the Carmi Subdivision of the KVR). We spent four days on the trail, leaving Midway at about 9:30 Monday morning and arriving in Penticton on Thursday afternoon at about 2:30. Our overnight stops at Beaverdell, Idabel Lake and Chute Lake were determined mainly by the fact that we were not camping, and required some form of genteel accommodation. It can be done faster, or slower, than we did it, but we weren't in a race nor trying to prove anything. Our bikes varied from knobby-tired mountain bikes with front suspension, to thinner-tired cyclecross bikes with no suspension. Each showed strengths and weaknesses at various times, depending on the terrain and railbed conditions. We met other cyclists, lot's of day trippers in Myra Canyon, a couple of backpackers walking the Trans-Canada trail (of which the KVR is a part), one black bear south of Beaverdell who hightailed it away when he saw eight cyclists coming, and a mule deer near Midway who bounded along faster than we could cycle. We found out that Monday is a bad day to arrive in Beaverdell (everyone takes it off and heads into Kelowna to go shopping) but then discovered how nice everyone was in opening their businesses up just to feed us. |
| The Kettle Valley Railway Museum in Midway. We left our cars here for four days, didn't tell anyone, and had no problems. Thank you Midway! Oops! I found out later that the museum would like a donation for leaving your vehicles on their property. Sorry Midway! |
| Some of the group test ride their bikes |
| Behind the museum is kilometer zero of the KVR, Carmi subdivision, elevation 581 m.a.s.l. (meters above sea level) |
| Here we go! West, up the Kettle River valley towards Rock Creek |
| We ride through the quiet sawmill property at Midway and continue on, with highway 3 on our right |
| Okay, we've gone about three kilometers - there's the Midway sawmill in the background - and people are taking a break already? |
| The KVR veers away from highway 3 and heads down towards the river, getting a bit overgrown and hard to follow |
| This stretch along the Kettle River is beautiful and quiet, but full of mosquitos |
| Our first gate! A novelty now, figuring out how to get through, but later we just whipped through them with all the skill of Cirque de Soleil |
| More lovely riparian zone - and more unlovely mosquitos! |
| Our first - and last - wrong turn, as we lost the KVR crossing a field and veered into a cow pasture. A steering committee was struck to get us out of this mess, but despite that we found our way back to the KVR |
| Note the large, black bull by the fence on the left (on our side of the fence). He made us all a wee bit nervous |
| The Ingram bridge carries highway 3 over the Kettle River at kilometer 8.7. Our elevation is now 594 m.a.s.l. (+15 m since kilometer 0) |
| Leaving the gentle railway grade behind, the group starts up Bubar Road, a roller-coaster of a dirt road that hugs the north side of the Kettle River valley |
| The extra elevation of Bubar Road makes for some beautiful views across the valley |
| We start to make up some time as the road is firmer and faster than the trail |
| Bubar Road is quiet as it veers away from the river and highway 3 |