[Oldy Moldy]

For anybody who hasn't ridden the Penticton area you are missing out on some awesome trails. Nearby there's Campbell's mountain, three blind mice and threesisters. Threeblind mice is more commonly used amongst the locals but my friends and I regularly ride Threesisters. This trail offers everything from a 25 minute climb at the beginning to technical riding (rocks and roots) to a very nice decent down to the old railway bed, all this on a singletrack too. The whole round trip is around 2.5 to 3 hours of ravines, pastures, along the mountainside and beautiful vistas, a must see. You can ride to the beginning of the trail from town which is about a forty minute ride to the west above westbench residential area or an eight minute drive by vehicle, either way you won't be disappointed. So next time your around these parts with your trusty steed check it out, it will keep you coming back. I will submit photos of the trail once the snow melts. Rick.

 

[Sixty Fiver]

I miss living in Penticton... my house used to overlook Okanagan lake and many enjoyable hours were spent riding and sailing there.

Next time I get out there I'll be packing several bikes with me so I can take in the wonderful scenery and trails.

 

[epictrailrider.com]

Next time I'm out visiting my relatives, you might know him as a former mayor of your town, I will be bringing my bike out. Where is the best place to find a map or directions!

 

[Oldy Moldy]

Hi, the two local bikeshops in town do have maps of local riding trails but I'm not sure how detailed they are, I haven't seen one just because I've learned the trails from people I ride with. The Bikebarn and Freedom cycle are both awesome shops and the people there are a wealth of information when it comes to bikes and local riding locations. Is your relative Dave Perry?... he was our former mayor and one of my old highschool teachers from the eighties.

 

[Tourendo]

I rode 3 B M a few times but found it kinda confusing as lots of times there really wasnt any obvious routes. Most people I, ran into on the trail seemed equally confused. It really could use some type of signage. I did stumble upon a waterfall there that was kinda cool.

Another decent area I found was behind the Sage Mesa GC area. Not sure what it was called but it was accessed by taking a trail that was next to a corner store.

 

[Chuck D. Railer]

all of the trails on westbench above sage mesa are on the Indian Reserve and are poach rides. (you are not allowed up there at all)

please don't create friction between the Indian Band and the local cycling groups by posting directions to illegal rides on the interweeb.

hope that doesn't come off sounding harsh, but we live here and don't need to have any more trail use conflict than we already have.

Three blind mice is fair game, for now, though.

 

[spooley]

I will be in Penticton the first week of July. Can you please give directions to Three Sisters. Also, last time I was there I heard about good XC trails around Summerland. Any knowledge of those?

 

[Digital]

3 Sisters?

Three Sisters? I live here and have ridden the area for nearly two decades and have never been on nor heard of, a trail called '3-Sisters'... I think it's a name that a particular group of individuals made up and use to reference something that others call something else…

With regards to 3 Blind Mice: it rocks ass! You can find a link to a messy, 'old-school hand-made' map here:

https://cdnav.sslpowered.com/shared/Three Blind Mice Trails.jpg

Be aware that its a 2.2 megabyte download. I didn't want to make it any smaller cause' its messed up enough to look at without shrinking it and loosing (any more) resolution. I think that the local bike shots have an easier to read, slightly less detailed version available for a couple of bucks.

We have (many) excellent rides here in Penticton and the valley - which are not on Native reserve land. Check out the White Lake Observatory area as well as 'Rock Ovens' along Skaha Lake's east side.. White lake has a variety of loops, several of which will take you to the top of McIntyre Bluff:

https://www.wildernesscommittee.org...ts/Vol25No04/why/images/04_McIntyre_bluff.jpg

...overlooking Oliver and the valley running up towards Penticton.

The Rock Ovens is a KILLA' ride: it starts just outside of the city and climbs old fire-road relentlessly for about 7k to a small 'lake' (puddle), and then turns into single track and continues a brutal ascent to massive rock bluffs atop a ridge many kms ahead. The pain of the climbs (some of which will test your vomit-O-meter), are soothed by the descent!

Be sure to sign the water-proof guest book atop the tricky corner climb near the apex. The Rock Ovens ride is - hands down - the most technical high-speed ascent in the entire valley (ok, Separatist / Rebellion rocks - but its shorter and on native land) and will have ya' yip'n and hollern' all the way down with a shiite eating grin from ear to ear. You might wanna bring up some arm / leg guards for the decent as its pretty friggin' hairy in parts. I tag mine onto my back-pack for the climb and put em' on for the decent.

You pop out about two thirds of the way down Skaha Lake towards Okanagan Falls, along the pavement near heritage hills development, on the lake - which is a refresher on a warm day! I'm guessing that the entire ride, from downtown Penticton to the end of the ride and back in on the pavement is about 35kms (?). Bring LOTS of water!

If any of you reading this ever wanna' learn some cool OK Valley rides and are confident / advanced riders, in town on a weekend, call me at 250-486-2443 (cell) or email me digital 'at' canada 'dot' com. I messed with the email address syntax so 'spam-bots' wouldn't harvest it and spam the hell outta my address... We have tonnes of stuff here that you won't find on the RDOS maps (see below), and all rideable without any candy-ass bike shuttles!

Finally, check out local Rural District online mapping software. Its pretty detailed once you zoom in close enough. The thing is actually based on aerial fly-over shots, thus is 'photo-realistic' when, as I say, you zoom in close enough.

https://rdos.bc.ca/index.php?id=478

Andrew D.

www.cdnav.com

 

[Digital]

Book coming soon

Am currently in the process of writing a book highlighting all of mountain biking trails in the Penticton area. Will have to exclude the trails on the reserve, but there will still be a whole lot of interesting stuff to open your collective eyes to!

The new book will feature a fully GPS'd layout, loads of images and vertical-gain charts as well as detailed explanations of each trail. If you wish to be put on a mailing list in order to be notified of the publication date, just drop me a line on the forum or pop over to my hobby music site.

Andrew D.
www.cdnav.com

 

[Digital]

So dudes, its finished; the 'book' became an online publication. It currently sports 55 'chapters' of trail information - a jaw-dropping collection of singletrack hiking and biking trails unlike anything you've ever seen before.

I've GPS and Google Earth tracks available for download, as well as NRC Topo' maps of the trails, images and comprehensive trail descriptions.

The site is updated almost monthly with new trails - I'd say that its the largest of it's kind in Western Canada, if not the country as a whole...!

Check it out at sweet singletrack dot ca

Andrew D.

 

[Digital]

It's a few years on since that last post and a lot has happened in the interim with regards to trails in the South Okanagan. I've now produced two revisions of the printed edition of SweetSingletrack.ca - which covers Kelowna, West-Kelowna, Peachland, Summerland, Penticton, Naramata, OK Falls and Oliver (!) Trails galore exist on this amazing terrain, and I've cataloged a whack of em' - with the exception of the First Nations Reserve lands, which I've left 'off the map' out of respect for their private property rights.

Check out Sweet Singletrackfor the online edition, or pick up a copy of the print edition at a local / hike / bike / book store in one of the communities mentioned above. Partial proceeds from the sale of this publication goes right back into trai

Ride Mutha' Ride!

Andrew
South Okanagan Trail Alliance