Kelowna BC

We wanted to mosey along the Canadian Gold Trail. Leaving Hope, we ventured north along the Fraser River through Lytton near where on March 23, 1858, Edward Hill and two other Americans from San Francisco stopped for lunch. Hill saw yellow objects glinting from the rocks near the river’s edge and grabbed his pan. After they sent large pouches of gold to the assay office, word was out and the Cariboo Gold Rush was in full force. To this day, Hill Bar was the richest stake anywhere in the area.

Kelowna is the largest city in BC that is not on the Pacific Coast. It is home to the Okanagan Valley and its many vineyards. We visited a few, but the most interesting (except for the wine that is) was Frequency Vineyards. A local musician believed he saw what loud musical frequencies did to the settling of sediment in wines. He built a winery where all his wines are subjected to loud frequencies which allegedly allow them to age in hours instead of months. The other wineries were more traditional – this one was fun.

We learned that there must be a bunch of little folk, dwarfs, that enjoy the RV lifestyle. No matter where we go, we see shade covers over picnic tables that could not be much more than 4 feet high. At least, that is what we assume.

Thanks to our friends Ron Ezra and Teresa Bell, we found the Myra Canyon section of the Kettle Valley Railway. Built beginning in 1910, this particular section sported 18 railroad trestles and 2 tunnels in a 9-mile stretch. When the railroad abandoned the line, locals worked tirelessly to adapt the rail bed and the trestles to allow for a walking/biking trail that is simply spectacular!

It turns out that this is the exact same railroad that built the Othello Tunnels near Hope BC. While the Othello Tunnels were cool, this 18-trestle section is even more so. We biked it on one day and loved it so much that we came back the next day with Kona and walked the trail again!

It is hard to imagine how they would have maintained this rout at the turn of the century. Both days we were here there was heavy equipment clearing slides that happened the night before, and the debris on the path was substantial. On the trestles we thought it was cool that they had viewing platforms levered off the side of the trestle, until we learned they were water barrel holders. Apparently, the sparks from the steam locomotives would occasionally light the completely wooden trestle on fire, so each trestle had one or several barrels filled with water to put out the blaze before it could do much damage!

We also found the location along the first TransCanada rail line where the leg from the east and the leg from the west were first connected, the location of the Last Spike. Much like at Promontory Point in Utah where we witnessed the location of the Last Spike in the American Transcontinental Railway, Cregellachie BC saw the driving of the last spike at 9:22 AM on November 7, 1885.

The Woman was excited as all get out when we stumbled upon the Trans Canada Trail. Much like the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail, the TCT runs across Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. It makes a big loop in the west, up through British Columbia into the Yukon, back through Northwest Territories, and then to the Pacific, covering a total of nearly 16.000 miles. That makes it the longest recreational trail in the world.

And yes. In Canada, at least in British Columbia, you can even get your Poutine from a roach coach. You just have to marvel at what technology can bring us in this day and age. Life is good!

Talk to you soon!