Okanagan Lake Circuit

Around the Lake – Part 5

Posted on by Smoke

Mid November, and I’m still exploring new ground.  I’ve been out hiking a bit and figuring out stuff on maps a lot lately.  A little side note:  Dan, Brucie, and Summers were supposed to be here on this one, but they were scared off by the weather…

Yeah, right.  So Brant and Andrew came out instead.

A mellow roll out on trails behind my house led to this first climb out of Peachland.

It’s a mellow climb, maybe 1200’.  We took it really easy, enjoyed the sights, and checked out some ancient stunts…

OK, if you didn’t know, that’s an old aqueduct for someone’s irrigation system from back in the day.  Still looks like a fun drop though.

Ahhh, the first summit.

Brant is pondering a new career as a Sears underwear model.  Work it, yo.

Just a little skiff of snow, but it did make a difference to how fast we were able to move.

Not that we were in so much of a rush that we couldn’t pose up a few shots.

Action shot….taken while riding.

After a rippin’ descent, full freeride style with no trails, we hit the second climb.  It was a bit tougher, and a lot colder, but that’s still not saying a lot.  Apart from a few short hike-a-bike sections (10 minutes each or so), it was primo singletrack most of the way.

We got onto the plateau in really good time, and I thought we had a great chance of getting all the way to Penticton today.

Lynx?  Or wolf?  Sure not a coyote; Brant has size 10’s.

Now we ran into some trouble.  So many twists and turns, even with a GPS it was really bogging down, and that skiff of snow was adding minutes to the day. When we got moving well, we’d get so far off track in minutes that we ended up freeriding a half mile again to get to where we wanted.

Andrew looks cold.

If we didn’t get off course, we would have missed this part though, so it was a fair trade.

The final descent into Summerland was Suh-wheeeet!  Long sidehill singletrack, and narrow enough in a few key spots that the quadders haven’t wrecked it.

Although we were clearly running out of daylight and wouldn’t be getting to Penticton today, it’s definitely a possibility.

Maybe later this year, and for sure next summer.

Here’s the profile.

And here’s a map.  The yellow line was our route, from right to left.

Around the Lake, s’More

Posted on by Smoke

No pics, just maps.  I forgot the camera, but I remembered the GPS at least.  The final pieces of the westside offroad route are falling into place.  A lot of road on the route pictured, but I needed to run that through to get a sense of where to access the singletrack.  And I’ve got it figured out, now.

So the westside of the lake is looking pretty good now.  Hopefully I’ll be able to ride the full distance from Peachland to Penticton before the trails close down this year.

Evening Shuttle (Around the Lake-ish)

Posted on by Smoke

This is sort of part of the Around the Lake route.  An evening shuttle up McDougall.  Nice having this sort of thing available for after work.

We also did a bit of exploring in the truck on the way up.  It’s a pretty long shuttle, so it’s debateable on whether or not to ride up.  If you’re in good shape (we’re not, check the pics), then it’s about 2 and a hlaf hours round trip. 

You get the fresh legs for the descent if you shuttle though.  We’re talking about 40 minutes of sustained downhill riding here, except when you do a little walking up for the camera.

Nothing really radical about the descent, but you do get some nice views of the valley and the lake.

Oh, and the occasional sweaty downhiller.