We are still alive and riding. Sorry for the delay in posting. The ride today took us uphill for about 30 miles from Beaverdale to Myra Canyon. Myra Canyon overlooks the town of Kelowna which I’ll speak about later. In Beaverdale we stayed at The Last Resort in a comfortable cabin with a detached bathroom. The great part was that the fridge was stocked with food for breakfast and lunch and when we arrived a Crock-Pot was cooking a wonderful spaghetti sauce.
The climb up to Myra Canyon was well worth it even though it was 30 miles long. Before we reached the canyon we reached the top and that’s where tragedy struck. Gumby, ever wanting to be the rodeo expert, decided to ride the tent like it was a bucking bronco. This is the last photo we have of him. Somewhere further down the trail he must have been bucked off and being very stoic he never yelled and so we didn’t know it. I know some of you think that we are incapable of taking care of small children, but it wasn’t completely our fault. Gloria did write a return address on the back of him so there’s still a chance he’ll find his way home.
It was especially sad to lose Gumby at this point because the next stage of the ride was quite unbelievable. Above Kelowna there is a steep walled Canyon called Myra Canyon. The railroad ran around the edges of this Canyon and required 18 trestles to cross all the gullies. The trestles were initially built in the early 1900s and then in 2005 they burned in a forest fire. What’s even more amazing than the original construction is that Volunteers in the community got together and rebuilt the trestles. It is now a path the people use in large numbers coming up from Kelowna to see it. It’s completely free. The pictures don’t do it justice but it was a lot of fun to ride across these 18 trestles in about a 10km span.
Just past Myra Canyon we dropped down towards Kelowna but only a few kilometres. We stayed at the Myra Canyon Ranch. It’s clearly a ranch set up for rich people to come and have a western experience with horses, riding and pampering. However they have a couple A-frames hidden far from the other guests where dirty bike riders can stay for $50. It’s only about a hundred yards to the bathroom and showers. It was a great place to stay as it overlooked Kelowna and the lower part of Okanagan Lake.
Amazingly, although it shouldn’t be amazing since we’re in Canada, the owners of the place loaned us their truck to drive into Kelowna for dinner. Just gave us the keys and some directions to a nice place to eat. We had dinner at a golf course clubhouse that he had recommended. We were clearly the slobs amongst the special people but it was worth it because the food was quite good. it was a nice finish to a beautiful day.
Grumpy Grandpa's Great Bicycling Adventures 