Great Bicycle Trails

Riding in South Central British Columbia
on the Myra Canyon Section of
the Kettle Valley Trail

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2003 -- This area was devastated by wildfires and we know that most, and possibly all, of these beautiful trestles were destroyed. What heart breaking news! We happened to be in British Columbia during this time and heard on the news the promise of the Provencal Government to replace these treasured trestles, but to lose the original ones is so very sad. We sincerely hope the restoration will begin immediately, it was a great tourist attraction. After all, it drew us all the way from North Carolina and we considered the experience well worth the trip.

Following is our experience when we rode this trail September 2001.

And what a fantastically beautiful trail! No wonder the Myra Canyon area, with its 18 trestles and two tunnels, has been described as the most spectacular section of the Kettle Valley Railway Trail. We are in awe of the engineer who, in the early 1900s, surveyed and designed a railway system through canyons with trestles so high that it takes your breath away. Occasionally my husband would would remind me "Don't look down!"; I didn't need the warning!

We found the book Cycling the Kettle Valley Railway by Dan and Sandra Langford to be a valuable source of information. In fact, without this book and the maps it provided we could not have found the trail. We inquired for directions at our hotel in Kelowna and no one could provide them. The only information they had was "There's BEARS up there!" The book can be ordered from their web site, Cycling the Kettle Valley Railway or it can be purchased at a Tourist Information Center, which is where we found it.

We took Highway 33 from Kelowna and drove up the mountain to the Okanagan Falls Forest Service Road, which the trail crosses, and began our ride there. It was approximately 10 miles to Myra Canyon. The trail surface was not the best by any means; sometimes soft, sometimes rocky and some of the mud holes were huge! But the surface improved significantly as we approached the canyon and was very good in that area.

See a few of our photos and comments below.



Although there were portions of the trail that was extremely rough (this is not one of them!), we thought the surroundings were beautiful. We passed a couple of lovely lakes and the wild flowers were spectacular!

As we approached the canyon area the view of the valley below was astounding. We had no idea we had climbed that high up the mountain. Far below was the city of Kelowna.



This trestle has a warning "No Bike Riding on Bridge." A couple of people have fallen to their deaths from here -- the height is astounding. I was perfectly happy pushing my bike!

I finally worked up enough nerve to ride over some of the shorter trestles, although I did it holding my breath and being very careful to look straight ahead and not to look down!

For additional information about British Columbia trails, see "The Trains Canada Trail in British Columbia".

Another good resource is: www.christinalake.com/trails/kettlevalleyrailwaytrail.htm