Out trip

Today is a travelogue of a place we've often talked about seeing.  Since it was close by...

We hung out by the lake every day but we did take a few hours to visit  a part of the old Kettle Valley Railway.  Where we jumped on was at the Myra Station which is high above Kelowna, BC.  This part of the rail line now forms part of the Trans Canada Trail.

Here we could hike walk along the old rail beds, go through a couple of tunnels and cross several trestle bridges as we retraced the route of steam trains through the Myra Canyon.  There were many people on the trail that morning including our big group of 6 adults, two kids and two dogs.

In the summer of 2003, there were many large forest fires in the Okanagan, destroying homes as well as forests..  You can see the stands of burned trees everywhere as a reminder of those frightening days.  But you can also see the green returning everywhere.  The new trees will grow. In fact, the lodge pole pine requires the heat of the fire to release its seeds.

Among the casualties of the fires were the old trestle bridges in Myra Canyon.  The burned trestle supports and bridges have since been rebuilt in the same style.   It was a huge effort of volunteers, donations and time.

You can see how long and high in this slightly hazy long-shot photo.  Two of us didn't get all the way to this bridge although everyone else did.

All along the trail you can see right down the valley to the city of Kelowna.  It really seemed more than just miles away from this high mountain experience.

It's not only walkers that you meet on the trail  It's a very popular cycling trail as well.  Since it is a rail bed the grades are never very steep.  And you can leave the bike at home and rent one at the trail head.  That's for another adventure, though.

And as always, we found daisies.  They are everywhere in this high country.  I love the contrast with the burned tree trunks. 

Our one day in 'civilization' was still pretty isolated.  Even just driving through the city on the way home made us look forward to returning to the lake and our peaceful days.