On the weekend I took a mountain bike ride through the Monashee Mountains along the infamous Kettle Valley Railway trail. My hubby and my sister and I made up the small but determined biking team. We biked 70 km in less than 5 hours. Which, is impressive when you consider it was through uneven, washed out mountain trails. We stopped only once for a 1/2 h lunch on dry, giant boulders left from a rock slide. The views were incredible and of course the scent of the mountain air and forest was beyond heavenly. We rode through high alpine forests and alpine lakes and then down into the more dessert like ponderosa forests of the Southern Okanagan.
We arranged for my brother in law to meet us and pick us up at a small community called Beaverdale and transport us and all our bikes back to Kelowna. Beaverdale is a well know drug growing area in BC. So, it was quite humorous when we discovered it was my brother in law, waiting for us in a parked van, who was viewed with suspicious eyes by the town locales.
It was a great trip–my knees were only sore for the last few kms from the constant repeated separation-action of my knee caps as my knee lifted up each time I peddled. However, standing while peddling helped knock my knee caps back into position and I had absolutely no stiffness, aches or pains the next day.
The only problem occurred after I decided to stop to pee in a patch of Poison Ivy–didn’t realize my mistake until too late. Fortunately, the inflammation only lasted a few days and was minimal.
I must admit, I slept long and well the night after the trip–great dreams too.
I adore being in nature with no road access. The beautiful mountain grouse couples were the highlight wildlife of the trip, that and the frogs that hung out in the massive puddles along the trail.We didn’t see any large mammals aside from deer and we saw moose droppings.
I have a special bond with the KVR (Kettle Valley Railway) I have researched its history very well and it is the setting of one of my junior fiction-fantasy novels.
I’m eager to get on the trail again. The trail is quite expansive–starting near the American border at Middway, BC and winding its way through the Monashee Mountains and the Okanagan and then on to the Coastal Mountains near Hope, BC. The railway was an engineering feat–through the highest Mountain rail passes in the world. The rail ties are gone but the incredible trail and trestle bridges remain–perfect for cyclists. So many more mountain passes to explore!
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