Trestles and Tunnels in Myra Canyon

On Friday, June 23, 2017, we ventured out on our bicycles with Tony and Dee Dee Sparks to challenge the trestles and tunnels of Myra Canyon.  Outside of Kelowna, this rails-to-trails path follows the grade of the old Kettle Valley Railway, which was constructed from 1912 to 1914 to connect the Canadian interior with the port of Vancouver.  Trains ran on this road until 1973, and the tracks were removed in 1980.  Today, the part of the trail improved for bicycles offers 12 kilometers of spectacular scenery.  It forms part of a larger trail running from north of Kelowna all the way to Hope, British Columbia, and is embraced yet further as part of the Trans-Canada Trail.

Here we are at km 0, ready for our spokely adventure:

Here is a view of one of the 18 trestles we crossed:

Many trestles are wooden - two are steel construction.  A great many of them were damaged in a large forest fire in 2003, but local groups pulled together to rebuild the trestles and restore the trail for hiking and biking.  From the trestles we got great views of Okanagan Lake and the City of Kelowna far below --

-- and snow-peaked Little White far above:

The two tunnels were spooky to experience on bicycle because they were just long enough to disorient us as we  moved into nearly total darkness before coming back into the light of the far end:

Periodically along the trail, storm shelters are set for riders' and hikers' convenience.  This one very practically notes the distances each direction to the next toilet:

In some sections the grade was built by blasting through solid rock, leaving a small chasm or canyon through which we biked:

One trestle was built in an "S" curve:

Our path wound so much, that we turned back on ourselves and could view from one trestle another than we had crossed.  This one had some of the most interesting lattice work:

When the community was reconstructing the trestles after the fire, they found old equipment lying at the bottom of the canyons, which they raised up and laid by the path for our inspection:

One storm shelter even boasts an amateur mural telling the story of the trains and the development of the trail:

The trail runs through gorgeous environments.  We were high enough to pedal through mountain larches, or tamaracks and some of the rock walls were moist enough to harbor colonies of plants and beautiful wildflowers:

Eventually, we reached our terminus at km 12 --

-- then turned around and returned.  Along the way, spotted the June flowers of our favorite late-summer berry - the thimbleberry!  Yum!  We can't wait for the fruit to come out, and we hope we'll still be far enough north when the berries ripen to taste them again:

As we returned, Kathy found a beautiful lunch spot with a view out the canyon.  Tony was kind enough to snap our photo:

It was an interesting chance to pedal through a stretch of regional history, learning about the old railway, the community it served, and the environment through which it runs.  We retired back to Tony's and Dee Dee's RV for happy hour and dinner, and enjoyed talking over our memories of the ride.