Okanagan Feast

A four day loop around the southern end of Okanagan Lake. Mapped by Cameron Fenton.

STATS

  • Distance: 238 km | Elevation: 4,240m | Difficulty: 5

  • 85% unpaved | 30% singletrack trails | 100% rideable

  • Recommended # of days: 4

SUMMARY

Inspired by the Green Mountain Gravel Growler route on bikepacking.com, the Okanagan Feast is designed to explore the heart of BC wine country, sampling some of the best food and drink the region has to offer following historic rail trails, back roads and plenty of single-track.

Meant to ridden at a moderate pace over 4 days, the route starts and ends in Kelowna, BC. From there it follows the first day of Miles Arbour’s Chute Lake Charcuterie route, before continuing around Okanagan Lake linking up wineries, breweries and great food with stunning gravel, double track and flowing single-track.

This route is on the traditional territory of the Sylix and Okanagan Nations.

DIFFICULTY

On a scale of 1-10, this route ranks as a 5, with potential for riders to make it easier or more difficult by extending or cutting out sections of single track exploration. As it is designed, the route will be doable by novice bikepackers, while still enjoyable for more experienced riders. It can also be ridden faster, but doing so would mean having to skip the stops the route is designed around.

LOGISTICAL INFO

a. Highlights

  • Natural Wineries: The Okanagan is home to some of the most exciting and interesting natural wineries in Canada.

  • Kettle Valley Rail Trail: Many of the sections are linked up using the Kettle Valley Rail Trail, a historic rail route refurbished into fund doubletrack.

  • Okanagan Singletrack: Flowy singletrack that offers a range of difficulty through higher elevation forests to lower elevation scrub and grasslands.

  • Amazing Food: All along the route are amazing restaurants, bakeries and fruit stands making amazing food with local ingredients.

“...designed to be ridden at a moderate pace with stops to visit the best wine, beer and food producers the Okanagan has.”

b. Must Know

When to go: While this route is rideable for much of the year, it’s best ridden in the late summer and fall. In the summer, heat can be extreme and riding it in the late summer and fall time up with harvest time.

Logistics: Parking in Kelowna can be a bit of a pain, but if you head a few blocks out of downtown you should be able to find free side street parking.

Dangers and Annoyances: Ticks can be an issue on this route, as can extreme heat. Otherwise it’s pretty straightforward.

Travel basics: There is a regional bus service that runs between Penticton and Kelowna in case you need o bail out.

c. Camping & Lodging

  • It’s possible to ride this route without a tent and stay at lodges, hotels and B&B’s along the way.

  • Chute Lake Lodge is amazing. Great food, good accommodation options and a BC recreation site nearby.

  • The final campsite on the route is one of the most stunning, but it is dry, so make sure you load up on water.

d. Food/H2O

  • There is plenty of water all along the route. See the RideWithGPS track and filter/treat any water from lakes or streams.

Find Cameron on Instagram here