Ten years ago on Aug. 16, one the worst natural disasters to hit the Okanagan struck with a simple bolt of lightning.
No one will ever forget the Okanagan Mountain Park fire that burned more than 25,000 hectares of forest, park land and 239 homes on the southern edges of Kelowna.
I certainly didn’t forget as I biked across the Myra Canyon trestles riding part of the Kettle Valley Railway over the weekend.
As one of more than 800 participants on the Okanagan Trestle Tour that rode 80 kilometres from Myra Station in Kelowna to Penticton, the charred trees, along with the regrowth, took away part of the pain building in my posterior. (Note to self: next time you hit a trail with gravel, sand and rock, bring a bike with dual suspension and fatter tires.)
The tour started with all of us crossing the 12 or so rebuilt trestles high above the deep canyon floor.
The journey reminded me of the death-defying feat of engineer Andrew McCulloch and his tireless railway workers, who from 1912 to 14 built the original wooden trestles that history lost when they perished in the fire.
We were further reminded of that feat when we crossed the longest tressle, the West Fork Canyon Bridge. According to the Myra Canyon Trestle Restoration Society, the 220-metre crossing, original made of wood, was replaced with 12 steel through-plate girder spans on steel towers in the 1930s. The bridge’s wooden deck was burnt off in the fire and rebuilt along with the other trestles, re-opening that portion of the trail in 2008.
Most of the trestles have held out since, except for No. 3, which was damaged in the spring as a result of a rock slide.
That’s where things got interesting.
As a line formed behind us, we had to scramble up the side of the mountain to hike our bikes high above the trestle on a 1.8-kilometre bypass. A haul for many with heavier bikes, the trail allowed me — the only time grateful to have a lighter “hybrid” bike — to take a closer look at the forest. Its green floor and blackened remains, as well as the expanse of the trestles and canyon below, literally took my breath away.
The trudge uphill in the backcountry was worth it as we got back on our bikes passing Ruth Station –– with me yelling at my husband to take a look at one of the rock ovens built by the Italian stone masons who worked on the railway, as he sped past to approach our oasis at Bellevue Creek Bridge.
Although the aid station had at that point run out of food, there was still some electrolyte drink to imbibe before we set off again.
Like a steam engine running out of coal, we trudged up the two per cent grade to Chute Lake, my legs labouring as my too-skinny tires sank in the silty quicksand.
Chute Lake was another oasis, as we tucked into the energy bars and delicious cookies, courtesy of Spallumcheen’s own Om Naturals, laid out for us. The resort there also offered those starving to purchase fries and ice cream.
Off we went, fortified, grateful to travel down the 2.2 percent grade, past more historical rock ovens, and over just as many rocks, to the now closed off Adra Tunnel.
The resulting bypass took us north again and then south along the ridge of the park – honestly one of the most beautiful views of Okanagan Lake you will ever see.
Just past the oft. photographed Little Tunnel, and I might as well have been in the Tour de France, cruising past the Naramata Bench at thundering speeds to our destination at the Lakeside Penticton Resort — the journey over in just under six hours.
Thank you to the Trans Canada Trail Foundation, Trails Society of B.C., Parks BC, and specifically the Myra Canyon Trestle Restoration Society who rebuilt and basically saved this incredible trail from the devastation of 10 years ago.
The Okanagan Trestle Tour is supporting these organizations with its inaugural ride, and I for one will be willing and able to do it again, with a cushier mountain bike!
Kristin Froneman is the arts-entertainment editor at The Morning Star.
