Okanagan ride features grasslands, celestial births and primordial soup
Wheel Life column - 28 August, 1999
by Todd Litman and Suzanne Kort - Victoria Transport Policy Institute

For something different, today's 34-kilometre ride in central BC circumnavigates two mountains, an observatory, a winery, rolling grasslands, pine forests, wild pigs, and unique alkali lakes.

The ride starts in the town of Okanagan Falls at the south end of Skaha Lake, between Penticton and Oliver. It begins with a steady climb out of town along Highway 97. This is the least pleasant part of the trip. Some local car-driving cyclists avoid it by parking at White Lake Road, and leaving another car back at Okanagan Falls for the return trip.

Traffic diminishes and terrain improves when you reach White Lake Road. Here ponderosa pine forests give way to rolling grasslands dotted with fragrant sage, revealing a landscape much like it was when First Nations, and later fur traders, trekked between settlements. The area's stark serenity provides a refreshing contrast to our verdant island terrain.

The bowl-shaped valley around White Lake is an ideal setting for the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO). The ring of mountains block stray radio signals. Huge white disks and powerful computers monitor and map the universe using radio waves from galactic gas clouds, the celestial recycling bins for dying and nascent stars.

Cyclists can ride right up to the DRAO Visitor's Centre (phone: 250-490-4355) for a self-guided tour during daylight hours, or a guided tour on summer Sundays from 2-5 p.m. Unlike automobiles, which must park at the road, bicycles don't have radio wave emitting ignition systems that sabotage astronomical insights.

There are several other unique features on this route, like Surprise Ranch in the pine forests just beyond Yellow Brick Road. Here you'll ride alongside wild boars, frisky beasts that can run circles around the average mud-wallowing pig.

Picturesque Mahoney Lake lies beyond the hamlet of Willowbrook. This deep lake is saltier than the sea and remains warm year round even when covered with ice. You may be tempted to jump in, but save your swim for freshwater Skaha Lake at ride's end. This is an ecological reserve where human activity is restricted to observation only.

The tiny alkali lake has gained international scientific attention for its high concentration of hydrogen sulfide. The only critters that survive in its depths are anaerobic bacteria which thrive in a purple mat 20 centimetres thick, remnants of earth's primordial beginnings.

The terrain around Green Lake opens onto a ridge above the Okanagan River. The terraced fields of Hawthorne Mountain Vineyards (phone: 250-497-8267) flank this scintillating blue-green lake. The winery is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and offers hourly tours from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

You'll be glad you had no more than a taste at the winery when navigating the sharp hairpin turns and speedy straight-aways into the valley below, while osprey (or are those vultures hoping to taste the flesh of a careless cyclist?) careen overhead. The road bisects a gravel pathway along the Okanagan River Channel at the Vaseux-Bighorn National Wildlife Area, a sanctuary for a variety of species including bighorn sheep and trumpeter swans.

The Channel Pathway provides an easy level ride, ending in single track through Okanagan Falls Provincial Park, a shady campground with access to the river where you can cool your toes before crossing the bridge back to Okanagan Falls.