Getting There
I thought it would be fun to sleep in the car en route. That way, I didn’t have to make any exact plans, as I didn’t really know what day I was going to leave until the last minute. I did book a couple of nights in Kelowna, just to make sure that I would be able to bike Myra Canyon. This section of the Kettle Valley Rail has been on my bucket list for a long time.chose to drive to BC and to play along the way. Things like disc golf and biking. I had brought both discs and a bike with me. Myra Canyon was the big biking goal.
Since I was driving solo, I could pretty much go where I pleased, and wasn’t in a big rush. Instead of going through Drumheller, I crossed Lower Red Deer River more south than we usually do. Neat bridge and then a climb up gravel road switchbacks to some more grid roads. Drove past the giant wind turbines, almost ran out of gas, then pulled into Baker Park in Calgary for some disc golf. I had heard good things about this course from some guys in Saskatoon and it lived up to expectations. Nice park, lots of tree-ed corridors and lots of people. And a wonderful summer day, lot of picnics and people tubing in the river.
Opa fast food, then drove up to Canmore to visit yet another recomended disc golf course: Canmore Nordic Center. I rushed through the excellent golf course, dodging mosquitoes and searching for my discs in the undergrowth. The lime coloured disc was not a good coIour to be throwing. I discovered that it sank to the bottom of a small stream. And I spent more than 45 minutes looking for it after a failed attempt to clear a bushy valley. Dusk was falling as I finished the course.
Then I was back on the road driving towards whatever. I figured I would just drive until I got sleepy. Around Kicking Horse, I pulled over at rest stop, inflated my Thermorest and went to sleep. Still a little too warm, so I cracked open a window and got flooded with more mosquitos. Sometimes, you can’t win.
Woke up as the sun was rising and started into Kelowna. I ended up arriving WAY too early and figured I might as well go directly to the KVR. The last part of the drive is essentially a logging road. Arrived and joined the crowds. Changed into my biking gear, pulled my bike of the rack and took off along the trail. Lots of people walking and biking. The trestles and tunnels and mountain sights were awesome. Post-biking I drove back down the mountain, over to West Kelowna and checked in.
Disc golfing at Knox Mountain was excellent, I like the course. A little desert-like as it goes up the side of Knox Mountain for a few holes. Dinner was take-away asian food from a restaurant in the hotel parking lot.
- The first day of sailing, Shakedown in Howe Sound, starts HERE.