BC Big Trailie Ride 2 - June 2007

The second day of the BC Big Trailie Ride 2 began with everyone getting ready in the parking lot of the Southwind Inn in Oliver. Today's ride would have us traveling south through Osoyoos, then heading north towards Kelowna before heading south again to Penticton.

It was a beautiful morning as the 21 riders left the motel parking lot heading south on Hwy 97. It didn't take long before we had traversed the few miles to Osoyoos, and turned onto the Crowsnest Highway (Hwy 3) to ascend Anarchist Mountain. This section of road is an uphill section of twisty curves allowing everyone to test the strength of their motors and their cornering abilities. We regrouped at a scenic turnout that overlooks Osoyoos and the valley.

We then continued east on Hwy 3 towards Bridesville, and then turned south onto a dirt road that would take us very close to the US border and then onto Rock Creek.

At Rock Creek, we turned north onto Hwy 33 towards Westbridge. Then we turned off from the pavement again to ride a stretch of the KVR to Beaverdell. At one point along the KVR, the trail becomes quite narrow and borders a narrow gorge alongside a rushing river - very scenic.

After hitting the highway again at Beaverdell, we continue north and then turn west on McCulloch Road. This soon turns into a dirt road that winds through the hills, passes Layer Cake Mountain, and then ends up just southeast of Kelowna (where ManxMan happens to live). ManxMan and Mrs. ManxMan generously allow us to visit their home for a great deli sandwich lunch.

After lunch, we aimed south and soon were on the dirt again heading towards Chute Lake. This was a really fun dirt road to ride on my GS, and on the last stretch to Chute Lake, I was easily hitting 90+ mph - at times bottoming the suspension, and other time with both wheels in the air.

Here I am riding through one of the few puddles on the way to Chute Lake

Photo courtesy of Slug87 (aka Bruno)

Some of the inmates arriving at Chute Lake

DR650BC

ManxMan

Canuck

Sector

IslandR

Goat Boy

Go Girl

PacWestGS

Soon after Chute Lake, the dirt road turned into pavement, and we hit the Naramata Road and turned south for Penticton. We found the Log Cabin Motel, cleaned up, and had pizza and beer while discussing the day's ride.

After plenty of BS, I went to bed early as I had to ride back to Edmonton early the next morning.

Most of the others had one more day of Big Trailie Ride 2 to complete, including heading up the infamous Goat Trail and coming down the Headley Nickel Plate Road - fun that I'm going to have to experience another time. Instead, I was up early and hitting the road about 5:00am to ride back to Edmonton. The ride home was pretty uneventful, stopping only for gas and a quick lunch. I took Hwy 97C back to Merritt, and then headed north on Hwy 5 through Kamloops and Valemount before turning east on Hwy 16 and on through Jasper to Edmonton - a total of 650 miles. I arrived in Edmonton just after 5:00pm, so with losing an hour due to the time zone change, it took me about 11 hours to travel back to Edmonton.

The only real excitement on the way home (to Edmonton) was almost hitting a bear just before Valemount. As I was heading up Hwy 5 about 5 miles before Valemount, I noticed a minivan parked on the other side of the highway but didn't think much of it. To the right was a pretty steeply sloped hill, and then a small gully next to the road. Just as I was almost to where the minivan was parked, a bear came out of the gully to cross the road just in front of me. I hadn't spotted him down in the gully, and all of a sudden he was right in front of me. Luckily he reacted quicker that I did, as he saw me and immediately turned around and scampered up the hill. Unfortunately, he was gone by the time I had stopped and dug my camera out of my pocket to try and take a picture. Apparently, the people in the minivan had spotted him as he was coming down the hill originally, and had stopped to watch him - at least they have pictures.