Biking on the the Kettle Valley Railway

 I left Darrington Bluegrass Festival campgroud on Monday morning and drove to Hope, British Columbia to bicycle the section of the Kettle Valley Railroad located near Hope. 

I stayed at the Coquihalla Campground on the outskirts of town-- an easy bike ride to the store, library, and bank.

As it turned out a section of the Kettle Valley RR goes right through the campground.  And as you can see there's a campsite right on the old roadbed.  That's not where I camped though.

There's a portion of the Kettle Valley RR (KVRR) that goes through Coquihalla Canyon outside of Hope.  A series of five tunnels had to be driven in order to construct the rout-- here are two of the tunnels.

 The weather took a turn for the worse on Wednesday so I headed for the Canadian Okanogan on the east side of the Cascades and hoped for dryer weather.  I ended up in Coalmont, a little town on the KVRR, that was originally settled because of a nearby coal mine.

I spent two days in Coalmont.  The first day I biked the KVRR south towards Princeton, BC and the second day north to Tulameen.

The last time I biked on the KVRR was about 10 years ago.  When I was there this time I found the trail to be REALLY rough to ride.  I don't remember it being that way before.  Ten miles or so per day was about all I wanted to ride on the KVRR.

 My campsite on the Tulameen River.  According to the locals climate change has arrived in the Canadian Okanogan.  The mosquitoes were pretty thick-- unusual for July-- and the pine beetles are wiping out the forests.