Kelowna thru West Kootenays and back

islandboy

We are planning a 6-10 day trip from Kelowna through the west Kootenays and back to Kelowna this August. It will be a loop thru Vernon, #6 to Nelson, Grand Forks, Osoyoos then back to Kelowna. Trying to decide to B.O.B. it or do the hotel thing. Has anyone done this route?

__________________
Steve

Cycletouring through Victoria, BC, Canada?

islandboy

Trip completed! Melissa and I just completed our 600 km warm up for Trek 2005. We left Westbank Tuesday to Armstrong, to Sicamous, through Revelstoke, to Halcyon Hot Springs, to Fauquier, to Lumby and back to Westbank today (Monday 15th Aug). Fully loaded with panniers and a bicycle "bob" trailer we took six riding days tenting along the way. For most of the trip we experianced great road etiquette from the proffesional drivers along the way. Private vehicles were respectful for the most part with the exeptions occurring between Vernon and Kelowna.

Took a while to get to Armstrong (102 km) as we had some equipment upgrades and then visited some rellies along the way. Kelowna to Vernon was busy and the "bypass" route were either hilly or congested. From Armstrong we had a short (71 km) day to Cedars campground approximately 10 km past Sicamous. The toughest day physically was the third day (127 km) when we rode from cedars through Revelstoke and then on to Halcyon Hot springs. We ran out of fluids at the free ferry crossing and were generously assisted by the ferry crew. The ride along the Arrow lakes was full of spectacular views. A rest day and massage at Halcyon had us raring to tackle the next challenge - climbing the Monashee mountains.

The return trip started with a 92 km ride to Fauquier and a wonderful campsite called Tukaluk that I would recomend to anyone. The next day took us up into the Monashee mountains - 20 km out of Fauquier we began a 10 km steady climb (700 - 1000 m climb) that was rewarded with the best sticky cinnamon buns I have had - each one a meal - approximately 7 km to the west of Monashee Summit. The day ended in Lumby (112 km). Our final push to Westbank (89 km) started out with a pleasant ride from Lumby to Vernon but finished with some very bad experiances with both private vehicles and professional drivers (in all my years of cycling I have always found professional drivers excellent - only one exception in Vancouver).

At one point I was run into the curb by a semi towing a tandem of propane tanks. The logging truck drivers were especially dangerous between Vernon and Kelowna and it seemed they were quite willing to run you off the road. We used the side road (glenmorae) which had a bike lane which was poorly respected by the logging truck drivers that were also using it to avoid congestion through the main Hwy.

Lessons learned - pack lighter, ditch the Bob on anything over 4 days, and do not try climbing mountains without a granny gear on the towing bike.

I would definately recomend the Armstrong, Revelstoke to Lumby route we chose. I personally would avoid the Kelowna to Vernon corridor like the plague due to poor infrastructure, congestion and really bad drivers.

__________________
Steve

Cycletouring through Victoria, BC, Canada?