ROADSIDE NATURE TOURS
{ through the }
OKANAGAN
ROADSIDE NATURE TOURS
{ through the }
OKANAGAN
A GUIDE TO BRITISH COLUMBIA’S
WINE COUNTRY
D&M PUBLISHERS INC.
Vancouver / Toronto / Berkeley
Copyright © 2009 by Richard Cannings
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For a copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800 -893-5777.
Greystone Books
An imprint of D&M Publishers Inc.
2323 Quebec Street, Suite 201
Vancouver BC Canada V5T 4S7
Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada ISBN 978-1-55365-288-5 (pbk.) ISBN 978-1-926812-24-3 (ebook)
Editing by Kathy Sinclair
Cover design by Naomi MacDougall
Cover photograph by Graham Osborne
Photos by photographers credited
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, the Province of British Columbia through the Book Publishing Tax Credit, and the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities.
CONTENTS
1 } Anarchist Mountain to Rock Creek
2 } Richter Pass, Mount Kobau, and the Similkameen
3 } McKinney Road to Mount Baldy
4 } Fairview–White Lake Road
5 } Black Sage Road and Tugulnuit Lake
6 } North Oliver to Okanagan Falls
7 } Green Lake Road
8 } Penticton to Keremeos
9 } McLean Creek and Eastside Road
10 } Apex Mountain and Green Mountain Road
11 } Naramata Road
CENTRAL OKANAGAN
12 } Summerland to Princeton via Osprey Lake
13 } Penticton to Westbank
14 } Westbank and Crystal Mountain
15 } Westside Road
16 } Glenmore and Beaver Lake Road
17 } The Kettle Valley: Highway 33 to Rock Creek
NORTH OKANAGAN
18 } Vernon Commonage and Carrs Landing
19 } Silver Star
20 } Mabel Lake
21 } Swan Lake and Otter Lake
THE END OF THE ROAD
IMAGE CREDITS
( WINE & WILDLIFE )
TUCKED INTO THE EASTERN flanks of the Cascade Mountains is a narrow valley unlike any other in Canada—the Okanagan. This small watershed is only 30 to 60 kilometres wide and extends 170 kilometres from Osoyoos in the south to Armstrong in the north. The Okanagan has a dry climate but is filled with a series of large lakes that moderate the hot days of summer and the Arctic airflows of winter. The lakes and small streams of the valley also provide water that has transformed most of the desert grasslands in the valley bottom into lush orchards and vineyards. And packed into this valley are some of the rarest and most fascinating plants and animals in the country.
When I was young, my hometown, Penticton, used to advertise itself as the “City of Peaches and Beaches.” In fact, a concession stand in the shape of a giant peach still sits on the shore of Okanagan Lake. In those days visitors came to the Okanagan Valley for just that combination—a week or two with the family to lie on glorious natural sand under the hot sun, followed by a quick stop at the fruit stands on the way home to Vancouver or Calgary to stock up on cherries, apricots, peaches, and apples.
Although I grew up on an apple orchard and spent perhaps too many of my boyhood summer days on the sunny lakeshore, I always knew the Okanagan was much more than peaches and beaches. Our family often hosted keen birders and young biologists who came to enjoy the valley’s other riches—an incredible diversity of plants and animals, many of which were difficult to find anywhere else in Canada. I quickly developed a strong sense of pride about how special this place was and have carried that feeling ever since.
After living in the urban excitement of Vancouver for more than twenty years, I was drawn back to the Okanagan in 1995 by my deep love for the region. Things had changed, of course— twice as many people lived in Penticton than when I last lived there, and five times as many in Kelowna. But I also got the feeling that more local residents shared my feelings about the natural Okanagan and that more tourists were coming just to see spring wildflowers and listen to birdsong, to climb the rugged cliffs along Skaha Lake, and to cycle along the historic and spectacular Kettle Valley Rail Trail. Shortly after I settled in, I got a phone call from the local chamber of commerce suggesting that we form a group to organize an annual nature festival, an event that would have been unthinkable when I was a child.
I also noticed that the agriculture industry was changing