Good-bye Kelowna and Canyon Farms!!

We arrived in Kelowna on September 1 for a month’s stay at Canyon Farms RV Campground. We stayed at Canyon Farms 2 years ago for 10 days and we fell in love with it!! It’s a small hobby farm with flowers, vegetables, eggs and chickens. Lesley is so wonderful and she does not stop!! She adds such special touches to everyone’s stay, like fresh flowers on your picnic table, and grape vines between the site for you to taste. Not to mention the delivery of fresh vegetables, eggs and chickens right to your door. Make sure and check out the pics of the campground, and if you’re in Kelowna and looking for a wonderful experience at an RV park, you need to stay at Canyon Farms.

So like I said we arrived on September 1 and Maureen, Kemis and Gayle came for the night on September 2! Maureen and Kemis are such wonderful friends from Calgary. It was so awesome to spend an evening with them again! Oddly, Barry and Kemis had an “errand” in Kelowna and guess what…they came back with Ryan!!! Ryan made a surprise visit for the weekend!! I was so happy and thankful!! Within an hour from saying our goodbyes with Maureen, Kemis and Gayle, Nadine and Jeff arrived for a lunch visit! So great to see them! They were given a Tesla at the airport to drive. Jeff and Ryan had a great time seeing how fast it would go! Apparently very impressive! Unfortunately, the first 2 days went so quickly I forgot to take pictures!! Sorry!

Canyon Farms is located just a 5 minute walk to the Scenic Canyon Regional Park. We love it there and took Merlot for a walk down to the creek, which winds through the canyon most mornings. The cool thing is at the very end of the Canyon there is an area where there are two rock ovens which were used by Chinese gold miners who panned for gold in the mid 1800s. As well, there are many other really unique geological formations along the canyon walls.

Within the park are a few trails with great views of Pinnacle rock and Layer Cake Mountain. Ryan, Barry and I had a fantastic day hiking a trail to the Big Rock. It was so much fun! We were searching for a waterfall that you could access through the creek, but couldn’t find it. We have fun looking though. Make sure and check out those pics. They're pretty cool.

The next we took Ryan to explore parts of downtown Kelowna, along the marina. What a great afternoon. Stopped at Memphis Barbeque for some eats!! Sooo much food!

Barry and I spent a few days biking the Myra Canyon Trestles, which is part of the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) which runs along a steep-walled canyon. This portion of the KVR is 12 km one way (out and back 24 km). This incredible bike ride (or you can hike as well) includes 2 tunnels and 18 trestle bridges. The KVR was completed in 1914. The highest section of the KVR is 1270 meters above sea level, and longest trestle is 720 feet. Some history: In 1980 CPR removed the rails from Midway to Penticton and turned over the right-of-way to the provincial government where it then fell into disrepair, neglect and vandalism. In 1993 the Myra Canyon Trestle Restoration was formed and over the next 3 years its volunteers, along with community groups and individuals came forward to sponsor the trestles with labour, funds or both. Everything was done through volunteers and donations! Unfortunately in 2003 a lightening strike in Okanagan Mountain Park started a massive forest fire which burned for nearly a month consuming over 26,000 of forest including 12 of the wooden trestles. A task force was formed and the final trestle was restored in 2008.

So many places to stop and enjoy the view, have lunch or explore of the unique landscape and history along the canyon.

Barry and I also did plenty of hiking. One hike seemed to have no name but we were told it was awesome and close to Canyon Farms. It was true. I think it’s part of Myra Canyon, possibly Angel Springs? Anyway, it was an incredible hike that had remnants 2 regional water system pipelines, old bridges that were used for access to the water pipelines. It was really interesting...but the weirdest thing was the late model truck that seemed to come into the canyon from above! Check it out! I googled it but found nothing about it. I think it Dateline should investigate!!!

We also hiked Lebanon Trail. We had driven by the trailhead on the way back from the dog park (most beautiful dog park I’ve ever seen, along Okanagan Lake!!) I saw there were lots of steps starting out so I though hey, great workout. Little did I know after the stairs it was straight up…straight up!! I thought it was a shorter trail….like 2 km one-way, so we agreed to push the steep. However, it ended up being about 6.5km return. The top was nothing spectacular, but the views coming down was incredible. Thank dog we didn’t take Merlot!! It would have been too much for his little legs and my patience (he’s a puller and a climber!)

Mid September we also met our great friends Tammy and Dan for an afternoon of wine tasting and tapas at Da Silva Winery. So much fun! The wine and food were incredible!!!

Winding up, Barry and I did a couple more sort hikes, spent another day downtown, visiting the historical museum, hanging at the marina, and stopped for some appies, IPA and Coors Light!!

The last couple of day it was still warm enough to enjoy Merlot’s favorite thing…Kayaking!! We put the kayaks in Okanagan lake at the dog park I mentioned earlier, which also has a boat launch. Such an incredible area. Didn’t take long for Merlot to start practising his long dive!! It's really hard to keep him in the kayak once he starts diving back and forth between our kayaks. However when he starts to get tired we have to tether him simply because when he's done that's it, he's swimming for land! It's pretty funny!

All in all, we love Kelowna, and more specifically Canyon Farms and surrounding area. After being there for a whole month we was kind of sad leaving. It was also a strange thinking that this is the last time we’re going to be in Canada until April 2023. We’ll miss you Kelowna!! September 30, we head to Bend OR. Can’t wait!

Don’t forget to check out the pics from Kelowna under the Photo Albums tab!