Princeton to Osoyoos

Distance: 114.51 km, Total ascent: 805 m, Time: 06:36, Trip distance: 667.18 km

I decided to head down to the town of Osoyoos at the southern end of the Okanagan Valley. The town is said to be situated in a desert, and it has the warmest weather in Canada. A desert in British Columbia? This sounded like an interesting place, so I sat off on the 110 km journey, passing through the towns of Hedley and Keremeos.

The photo's (more):



The very small Bromley Rock Provincial Park just outside of Princeton. This would have made a nice camping spot, but unfortunately one never know these things beforehand. In the future, before settling on camp site, I'll have a look around for these small Provincial Parks. It looks like there's hundreds of these around British Columbia.

Again, some very nice scenery throughout the day.

I stopped for brunch in the old gold rush town of Hedley. The Hitching Post felt like a typical saloon, and it even sported those little swing doors on the way to the restrooms. I had a mammoth meal here, which pulled met through the day.

Just as I was about to leave town, I saw this little girl selling lemonade. Classic! I just had to buy a glass, and at 50 cents, it was a steal. She was quite the little business woman too. Tried her luck at keeping the full dollar. Lol. Capitalism is alive and well in Canada.

I met Asha here, the guy in the photo. He was cycling from Vancouver to Nelson. It looked as if he just packed a bag, grabbed his old mountain bike and sat off on the trip. Quite cool.

The next stop was the town of Keremeos, renowned for it's fruit and wine farms, or ranches rather. I stopped to buy a few peaches and fill up the tank with water.

According to my guidebook, the name is of native origin, meaning "a place where the winds meet". The town lies in the centre of a T-junction between three large valley's, and indeed this seemed to be the case. I was met with a steady head wind as I left town, down the south-eastern valley.

Stunning. Felt like it was a scene from Far and Away.

The entire day was downhill, but unfortunately there was a 600 m (ascent) hill to get over just before Osoyoos. This is the photo looking back. The climb wasn't too bad though. I still think a lower gear ratio would make life a lot easier. I'll try to change them in two day's time when I get to the larger city of Penticton.

The sight from the other side of the hill. I'm not too sure I agree with the claims of it being a desert, but it was considerably drier than rest of the province. The valley floor is covered in wine farms. The warm sun and abundant water supply, makes for ideal growing conditions.

I wasn't too impressed with Osoyoos. I was expecting a small desert town, but instead found a noisy, bustling vacation spot filled with water-skiing jocks and brown leather skinned bodies. The lake was full of boats pumping their stereo's to the max, people were burning their noisy V8 trucks down the streets, and there just seemed to be a general sumgness about town. It all seemed like one big pissing contest, where the class/money scale was tipping in the wrong direction. I have neither of the two, so I'm still good.

The first place I found with camping availability was this water park. Too tired to care or continue looking for a better spot, I decided it would suffice and I camped next to the slides. Haha. So that was a first, and probably a last.

Gist: A long day in the saddle, but there was plenty to look at during the trip. The first 90 km or so had a gentle downhill gradient, which made for easy cycling. The final hill was quite big, but the legs felt surprisingly well. I did realize that I was developing a bit of a, shall we say, "saddle problem", which made life a bit harder. It is amazing that each day was different with its own set of challenges.

Manning Park to Princeton

Distance: 70.35 km, Total ascent: 669 m, Time: 04:14, Trip distance: 552.67 km

With some protest from the legs, I started with the trip from a chilly Manning Park towards the small town of Princeton, which is far less spectacular than its name suggests.

Here's the photos (more):

The first 30 km was all downhill! This was a very welcome, as I was still very tired from the previous two riding days. The road hugged the Similkameen river during this stint, and crossed paths a few times during the day.

A bit of a rapid where the river cuts through the mountains. After about 40 km, I got showered and had to whip out the good 'ol poncho. The classiest of attires shown here in the stupidest of photos. The road climbed up 300 m during the next 10 km. The legs were tired, but (surprisingly) didn't feel too bad.

After reaching Sunday summit, the skies opened and the sun dried everything off again. My rain gear seemed to be up to the challenge and all my stuff was kept dry.

I reached the River's Edge campground late afternoon and got a nice spot in the shade next to the ever growing Similkameen. The owners were very friendly and greeted me with a warmth we seemed to have lost in our generation. Everything was still in "miles" and "feet". I was happy for them as the site was filled to the brim with RV's. Business is obviously booming in the summer months. I was the only one in a tent though. It seems as if the Canadians (and Americans) preferred the outdoors with all the usual luxuries.

Gist: A pretty unimpressive day. The scenery was still pretty cool, and the rain spiced things up a bit. I still felt tired and considered another rest day, but I didn't feel it was worth it to stay in Princeton for another day. My schedule is tight enough as it is, and I had to keep moving to get to Calgary in time.