We cheated this morning and took a ride from our wonderful hosts at Myra Canyon back up to the trail. As I noted yesterday we dropped 4 km down to them on about a 14% grade. I didn’t feel like starting the day climbing it and he drove us back up it. Once on the trail we made our way along the east edge of the lower Okanagan Lake towards Chute Lake and eventually down around the end of Okanagan Lake to Penticton and then our final destination Summerland.
I suspect the name of the town, Summerland, is a bit of a misnomer and likely for tourists. However, at this time of year you would think we took a turn South and ended up in the Napa Valley. As we came down from Myra Canyon Rida send it into the Mata and then connecting. These towns are surrounded by vineyards and orchards.
Add to that, incredible beaches that were sandy with warm water and you have what appears to be a great place to live. Of course, like every town in BC it had a great skate park and also had this incredible beach park with water slides and bounce tubes and climbing walls. It was quite the Amazing Town.
Having taken only three weeks to learn that I should reserve motels by the trail I was ready in Summerland with the hotel adjacent to the trail. Unfortunately, I then decided to take the Kettle Valley Rail Trail from Penticton to Summerland rather than the Great Trail. The Great Trail followed the highway and I wanted to stay on the rail trail. The rail trail entered Summerland about a thousand vertical feet higher then our hotel. The hotel is somewhere down there by the lake. So yes, I got to have a hotel next to the trail but we came into the town high and had to drop down to the motel only to make that climb again the next day.
Grumpy Grandpa's Great Bicycling Adventures 