Favourite outdoor spots getting upgrades
Trails, trails, trails. Thanks to COVID-19, 2020 has turned into the Year of the Trail.
More people are hitting Okanagan trails than ever before as they temporarily escape lockdowns or avoid too-crowded places. Many of them are on new bicycles, especially e-bikes, as valley bike shops report record sales.
Here is a summary of the most recent outdoor recreation announcements:
— $975,000 for Black Mountain/ sntsk’il’nten Regional Park in Kelowna to build three new multiuse trails, including one to the summit, plus washrooms, parking areas at Joe Rich Road and Pyman Road, information and kiosk signage, and guard rail fences. Work is expected to begin this fall with completion by next summer. The name sntsk’il’nten comes from the Syilx language and translates as “the place where arrowheads/flint is found.”
— Friends of Okanagan Rail Trail (okanaganrailtrail.ca) has launched a fundraising campaign for a “signature northern gateway” at Kilometre Zero in Coldstream. Donations from communities and trail users will be added to grants from the Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO), Okanagan Basin Water Board and TD Friends of Environment Foundation. A concept plan has a plaza, hilltop viewpoint, interpretive structures, public art and indigenous gardens.
— Lake Country wants input (surveymonkey.com/r/VSKJWJW) by the end of August on its Oyama Isthmus Park site concept for the waterfront located between Oyama Road and Wood Lake that stretches from Trask Road in the west to the Oyama boat launch. The plan has numerous “zones” — a west entrance and dock, Great Lawn and Pocket Beach, Packinghouse Square and Packinghouse Building (public washrooms, changerooms and showers), play pier, outdoor classroom and the boat launch. The challenge will be having enough parking. Last weekend when we kayaked Kalamalka Lake, vehicles were crammed everywhere along
Oyama Road and Trask Road.
— Traders Cove Regional Park has a new $71,000 playground for children 18 months to 12 years: a dual-bay swing set (four swings), two slides, climbing apparatus and a play fort structure with a safetyapproved wood fibre surface below. This fall, the park picnic shelter is scheduled to be replaced.
— A new playground has opened at BX Community Park, 5734 Silver Star Rd. in Vernon, including a play structure that looks like a fire truck, multiple slides, monkey bars and an interactive spinning wheel with a maze inside. New safety surfacing was installed at the N’Kwala and Gibbs Road playgrounds.
— Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre has scheduled fall work parties for Sept. 12-13 and 19-20 for a number of small projects including staining buildings, cleaning up trails, wood splitting and storage, small renovations, and prepping buildings for the winter season. No potluck work parties will be held, but all volunteers will receive a free day ticket to be used by friends and family.
— While you hike, bike, play and park your RV at Big White Ski Resort until Sept. 7, don’t forget winter season passes are on sale at early bird prices until Oct. 18 with an instant 20 per cent rebate for 2019-20 season passholders due to the unprecedented March closure from the pandemic.
— Silver Star Bike Park will have bonus weekends on Sept. 12-13 and 19-20. Tickets will be limited so book online in advance.
— Silver Star Mountain Resort’s 2020-21 winter season passes are on sale until Sept. 27 at last year’s early bird prices and are fully refundable until Dec. 1. The season pass is good for downhill skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, tubing, fat biking, skating, snowshoeing, and two ski days at Sun Peaks, Whitewater and Apex.
— Cross Country BC is offering a chance to win a Three-Day XC Supercamps early-season prize package (valued at $590) to any club that can reach 20 per cent of its annual membership numbers by Oct. 10.
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A recent column included information on the former Kettle Valley Railway right-of-way between Penticton and Summerland which still officially belongs to CP Rail even though many are exploring it on foot and bicycle.
“Negotiations between Penticton Indian Band and Canadian Pacific Railway are ongoing for the return of the lands that were taken from the Penticton Indian Band’s reserve for purposes of the construction of the Kettle Valley Railway line,” says Lisa Wilson, policy analyst with the lands department of the Penticton Indian Band.
“Once the transfers have been completed, the Penticton Indian Band will then determine the uses to be made of those lands, and any restrictions on use.”
She declined to say whether the band council has already discussed possible future uses. Through freight was discontinued in 1961 and the last passenger train operated in January 1964.