Trail Description:Considering this was the rail way line to Kelowna, it is at a pretty high elevation relative to Kelowna. So there is a fairly long and winding drive up from Kelowna to the trail head. At the parking lot, at least today, there is an outfit which rents bikes, at a cost of $40 per 4 hour. We decided to forgo the $160 bill for the four of us and head out on foot. As mentioned, the trail is an old railway bed very flat. Well maintained The old 4 inch crush ha been replaced with a bedding of small gravel/dirt suitable for walking. The Rails them selves are long gone. There is no difficulty on this trail, the sections we saw would be very suitable for a wheelchair, although not as good as a ashphalt paved trail in that regards. (Please let me know if you think otherwise!)
The start of the trail has a kisosk with information on the trail itself, and is complete with out houses style toilets. It is probably worth noting that there is a less used one several hundred meters down the trail, so during the busy season you probably want to use that one if you can hold on. Pine trees and tamerack Trees dominate the large flora. It is very clear that fires have swept through this region. Not all the trees are chared husts, but some are.
The trail is signed, with several notes on historical facts. The short section we went down included: foundations from an old work house. a rock oven used during construction. And kiosks signs telling of the history, books written, the fire, and replacing the tressles.
There are benches and tables along the way And of course there are the train tressels, it is these that are the high light of the trail, given some history, and allowing a safe way to look down from the top (they have rails), and to look out over the valleys. Most of these tressels were replaced after the 2003 fire, just for the purpose of maintining the hike itself. Many thousands of volunteer hours went into that work.
Unfortuantely the views are not so great when we were out there, as once again there are fires burning in the area, and there is a smokey hazein the region. We saw the fire when it was quite small as we drove into Kelowna, by the following day it was making the news. (It wasn not near the trail though)
It was a short day for us we only went out a couple of km to the second tressel. Highlight for the kids was the "friendly" chipmunks. When offered a pile if seeds from one of the plants by my daughter, it gave her a nip on the finger. Not enough to break the skin, but enough to get a squeal of "He bit me, BAD chipmunk!". I guess that will teach her not to feed the animals.
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