KVR (Kettle Valley Rail Trail ) West shore of Skaha.

The KVR runs right through Wrights Beach Camp here on the outskirts of Penticton. When we first arrived we had a sight which overlooks the lake…spectacular view. But the decision to stay over the worst of the winter meant we had to move to a more central site as they shut off the water to some of those more lovely ones.

We have had several walks down the rail…and a few bike runs down there too…..so this post is kind of an overview of the ones that involved pictures being taken.

The first trip down the lakeside was pre winter…..just as fall was switching the colour palette over to reds and yellows.

Sept 26th.

Dec 22nd.……out for a VERY brief walk in -23 C…Brrrr

There have been a few hikes and a couple of bike rides more recently. Some of them to ogle at the ice formation and the snow dusted valley sides.

Jan 23rd .Hike down the KVR b/c the weather had improved a little but there were still some spectacular ice formations.

It was a day where there was not a breath of wind and the lake was mirror flat.

Partway down the side of the lake, we caught up with the resident swans…..and a whole bunch of ducks hiding out in a very sheltered spot down at Kaleden.

Jan 24th Short bike ride……it was above zero and the walk the day before instilled the brave idea that the snow might have melted enough to be able to get down to Okanagan Falls. ( The wind chill was minus 5C …frozen toes…..and wind in our faces all the way home) still it was good to get out for a bit….even if we did call it halfway down..!!! Once the sun goes the temp just drops like a stone.

Jan 31st. Then there was the feral horse invasion. Yes you read that correctly. There is a small herd of feral horses locally…we woke up one morning to find them happily munching the grass in the campground. They were rounded up and moved out with golf carts. The next couple of weeks they had ropes up across the gates….every time we went in or out of the campground meant hopping out dropping the ropes and then replacing them after leaving/returning.

Feb 5th took us back up the side of the Okanagan Lake to meet up with friends on a skiing vacation at Big White. We took the opportunity to take them some of the Abandoned Rail brewski’s……Scott….being Scott….had to stop along the way to do some artsy pictures of the cans…!!!

Feb 9th.…we finally ran out of roasted garlic.….so had to rustle up a small batch of local Okanagan garlic in the Instantpot….!! and another batch of the olive oil preserved garlic…

The new batch was then test driven in a batch of garlic bread…..(topped with local honey and sesame seed..) The black honey from one of the local producers is something we had never seen before…but have become avid fans..!!!

Fe 16th. A further improvement in the weather situation tempted us out to try and hit that Okanagan Falls target again., so we embarked on a slightly longer bike ride.

On this day we took the bikes down to trestles at Okanagan Falls at the southern end of Skaha, and carried on a little further to see how far the trail would actually take us.

Feb 22nd Another cautionary tail that did not involve either slugs or shoes. In the evening I was sure I could smell burning plastic. Persuaded Mr to go out and check……scarily we found our 50 amp connector had slipped slightly and was shorting…….

Thankfully the local RV repair guy at Apex RV repair…the wonderful Raj, came to our rescue and saved us from certain doom as the temperature was forecast to drop to -15 Celsius that night. Raj came out in freezing temperatures in the dark and got us back up and running again.

Its hard not to just stop and take a few pictures every time we go out. Every different weather condition just seems to lend it yet another kind of beauty.

Up next….a return to the columns at Keremeos in the snow.