Good morning sun! Yes! Its a beautiful morning. We are especially grateful to put on dry clothes and pack our dry gear onto our bikes. Access to hotels or lodges is definitely a bonus to biking in a partially urban route. We down some coffee, and hit the road to find some breakfast. After a nice hot breakfast at the Bear’s Den, I quickly grab some hand warmers at the gas station across the street. This is something I will definitely add to my packing list for the next trip. Although it is getting pretty warm now, the weather changes quick and these might be nice if we have another day like yesterday. The KVR trail picks up on the west side of the Penticton River Channel. The main KVR trail turns north and runs along Okanagan Lake before turning west towards Princeton. There is a short spur that heads south along Skaha lake to Okanagan Falls. We take the south trail as our eventual destination is Osoyoos. We follow the channel past a golf course. We can see the highway and the town to our left. It is getting quite warm now and we have to stop so I can remove a few layers of clothes. Soon we reach the sandy shores of Skaha lake. We have to travel along the highway for a short distance and cross at Wright’s beach resort. We scout around for the trail marker which is in the resort. The trail is right beside the lake now and it becomes much quieter and more serene as we head away from the town and the highway makes it’s way up and away from the trail.
The ride along Skaha lake is beautiful. We pass through the tiny town of Kaleden where the trail runs out and we switch to some quiet streets. There are KVR route signs so it is easy to find our way. We are surprised to see an old heritage building turned into a park – The Kaleden Pioneer Park (shown above). Neither of us had read about this little gem along the route. At the south end of the town we are back on the trail. The trail continues alongside the lake. At the south end of Skaha lake we cross our last trestle bridge into Okanagan Falls. Now we must ride city streets and the highway for a bit. As we pass the liquor store, we make a quick wine stop. Mom loads up her panniers with two bottles of wine (where the heck did she get the energy to carry that?)! We stop for coffee and fudge at Tickleberry’s Ice Cream shop. They also have a nice gift shop so I buy some hand made soaps. I really like to outfit my nicely renovated bathrooms with pretty handmade soap and this is a nice (and light) souvenir (especially compared to wine – which will never make it home anyways). As we are enjoying our fudge we take a look at our route options. One suggested route is to take Oliver Ranch Road which winds through the foothills amongst the wineries. We will be able to avoid most of the highway as it joins the highway just over a kilometer from the campsite at Vaseux Lake. Perfect. On y va (Lets go)!
Up to this point, the vast majority of our riding has been either flat or downhill. So it is a bit of a shock on my sore knees to ride up into the foothills. How much elevation do we need to climb? I was sure it did not look like much on the map. I look over and ask mom “And you are doing this with two bottles of wine in your panniers!” We reach our turn off and head down a quiet road surrounded by vineyards. We pass sign after sign for tasting rooms, but most require an appointment because of COVID-19 restrictions. We decide to carry on. Especially since mom is already loaded down with a couple of bottles There is not a lot more space in our bags if we wanted to buy more. Overall, it is quite a nice ride. Eventually we emerge at the highway and make our way over to our campsite. Thirty kilometers total today.
Vaseux Lake is beautiful and the evening is perfect. This is a great night to camp. Unfortunately the campsite is right next to the highway which sucks. Especially since all of the lakeside campsites are taken. What the heck? Why is everyone still camping in the middle of October? We set up our camp. I am excited to cook tonight’s dinner; we are having a curried cashew couscous. In preparation for our trip, I had dehydrated some veggies that smell absolutely delicious (dehydrated red peppers! yum!), mixed together all of the spices, coconut milk powder and couscous, and vacuum-packed everything together. All I have to do is pour in boiled water and top it with raisins and cashews! Years ago I had access to a dehydrator and prepared dehydrated snacks and meals for a hiking trip. This is something I definitely love to do. Certainly something that I am going to get more into now. We like to eat well when we hike and making our own dehydrated, vacuum-packed meals is perfect. After dinner we wander down to the lake. It is such a beautiful evening and the lake looks amazing. The water is like a mirror reflecting the silver of the evening setting sun. Such a perfect mom and daughter night!
I found the curried cashew couscous recipe on the Clever Hiker blog. For veggies, I dehydrated onions, celery and red pepper. Here is the link for the site: