We had to go back to Rock Oven to get the goods we missed yesterday. A moderate climb to get there, but well worth it.  Just gotta get up by Margus to get to the top.  Wave hi to Margus…

Oh yeah…it was worth it.

Sick trees, I had to make Ryan go back for another pic.

We rinsed and repeated this cliff again too.

Then, since we wasted too much time in the morning, we lost the light again.  Got a chance to look around a bit though.  We hung out in this canyon for an hour or so, and explored a lot. 

More of the same.

OK, looks like we’re gonna get another 5 minutes of light if we’re lucky.

Oooooo…..golden.

Ryan tried this rock line.  It didn’t really work out, as it just doesn’t look that rad, but in real life this was pretty sketch.  Lots of exposure, and still a bit slick in spots after the rains last night.

Anyway, way steeper than it looks.

Well, it looks OK I guess.

Anyway, that’s about it.  Now I’ve got Margus hooked on the area, I’m sure I can get him back for some more.

Well, it’s getting a bit late in the season, but I figured I could find something for the boys.  But first I had to hurt ‘em a bit.  Not on purpose, just because I’ve been sitting around a lot lately.

Something like 30km, and a good 6000’ of vertical drop today.  Oh, and some seriously yellow larch trees.

Here’s a view of the route, sort of.  We did the blue line.  The yellow-y stuff is a doubletrack that can be used to access from the bottom.  We drove way around, and hiked up a firebreak for 2 km.  Sort of gnarly, but I found another section above the Derenzy FSR that will be focus of another mission.

Back to the red, yellow, and green.

Maybe not the greatest light, but a fine, fine ride.

Margus, working hard.

..and again.  Of course, with a setting like this a photographer shouldn’t have to work that hard.

Right?  Oh, I almost forgot that Travis K. came out today too.  He got to be FlashMan.

Well, maybe not the results I we could have wished for, and a late start meant that we missed the best light, but a great ride.  Tomorrow afternoon looks good, maybe we’ll make up for it then.

So the westside of the lake is looking pretty good now.  Hopefully I’ll be able to ride the full distance from Peachland to Penticton before the trails close down this year.

At least I’m out there a little bit.  Brant and Andrew (and lots of other folks) have been out a lot resurrecting all the old Gillard trails that were destroyed in the fire of 2003.

They have already re-opened Casino Royale, and now we’re out clearing Lower Casino, which I didn’t even know existed.  It’s pretty hard to find in places, but there’s a bunch of old decrepit stunts to follow.  Andrew is able cut some new lines that are pretty clear, too.

Well, until you hit this swamp.  This is when Ryan showed up to show us the way, as he worked on the old trail way back in the day.

Ummm…where is that trail, again?

OK, so we’ve got a bit of work ahead of us.  Still, with just a handful of MTBco members out today, we got a good third or more of the line cleared and some nice features rebuilt.

Next year….that’s gonna be a great line.

Oh no wait…it’s just us.  Well, it is the last day, and another round of rad trails with the guys that built ‘em.

…and Ben.

.

..and Wade and Lorraine too. 

Lorraine was our stoke today. I think you can see why she was so happy to be riding the South Okanagan.  It’s just an unbelievable place to be.

We had a great day hanging out ripping the trails, and even just cruising the KVR.

That’s a wrap.  Watch for it sometime in the spring on the ‘ target=_blank>Ride Guide.

Our pal Lorraine also joined up for today.  She just randomly happened to be on her way through the area on her way home from Utah, and is sitting in on the session.  Blown knee and all. 

Ben loves flat landings.  He did this one a couple of times.  Ow, dude, ow.

Maybe the yellow frame makes it easier.

A nice day of flowing the Naramata old school stuff, finishing up with another canyon ride.  Too bad the camera crew walked into a big patch of poison ivy. 

Wine anyone?

I think the Ride Guide is starting to see what the Okanagan ride scene is all about.

Get used to it Wade.  Your wife looked pretty rosy last time I saw her, I think there’s some changes in your not so distant future.

ONE MORE DAY!  Lets all share a bottle then….

Nice chaps.

Look at the size of that horse Boyko got.  How do you think that’s gonna feel after a couple of hours?

Well, we’re outta Merritt.  Next stop, Penticton.

I don’t feel so good.  Oh, and it snowed in the mountains last night.  Top of Iron didn’t look so good for today.  Chris looks pretty bummed about it.  He says he’s got some alternatives for us though.

Yeeehaaaa!  Swakum Mtn is more than a good alternative.

What looked like a write off turned into a full on session. 

Lots of gaps, including this road gap, and one awesome slider section.

No pics of the slider, but I got some good video which I’ll post up around Christmas.

Want to find this trail?  Look for this guy.

Take that, Boyko.

Even the Newf gets in on the fun.

We are in Merritt today, and since we’re getting crap weather we went for a little stroll to check out the jumps that the Collective built for Vanderham’s segment in Seasons.  I also found this wasp nest that got eaten by a bear.

After lunch, a couple more locals showed up to reveal some hidden gems.

This is an early season trail in the burn that rolls into something called Windy Canyon.

Good riding, but not the nicest day.

The Canyon was super rad (oh, say hi to Shane and his black eye).  A really tight and twisty slot canyon through sandstone.  Natural berms the whole way.

Hard to show what it looked like, but this sort of gives you the idea.

We got surprisingly good results for an off day, and we also got into the Pilsners early.  Taste the rainbow…

We also had a look at this gnar chute, but we decided that it was just too much work for our limited time frame. One day…

We had to get back to the AP Ranch anyway.

Our host and his tiny chainsaw.

Bear attack!

Poor Ben, we’ll miss him.

OK…how to cheat with a Newfie.  Make the stakes “the loser buys a round for the winners”.  Stack the deck to give everyone a killer hand.  Let the Newfie win, while we all tie…

Then make the Newfie drink 3 shots.

Things got messy after that.

Especially when the Newfie found out what we’d done…

Technically, it’s after midnight at this point, so it’s actually my birthday and I’m going to be paying the price tomorrow.

Yikes.

I think Ben was stoked that there wasn’t going to be any more sandbagging by the locals, too.  It’s tough coming into town as a hired gun, because everyone wants a dance.  It was just the three of us out in Powers Creek today (me, Ben, and Trevor), so that made it a lot more chill.

That and Powers is always a good time.  After we wrapped up shooting for the day, we cruised on over to our next destination, the AP Guest Ranch and the town of Merritt.

That’s either a big hat or a small Newfie.  Or both.  Now try to guess which empty pink pie is Boyko’s.  I don’t think Trivial Pursuit is his cup o’ tea somehow.

Leroy and Trev came out again, and Casey Groves and Ryan Mckenna also tagged along to represent the Kelowna scene.

Casey needs a date.  See what he’s doing to that bar of his?

I don’t know if Boyko was impressed with Gillard (horrified would be a more appropriate word), but the Cory, our cameraman, seemed to think it was going well.

Ryan biffed this drop two years ago, and hasn’t hit it since.  It’s kind of a gnarly one to have a monkey on your back for.

Bye bye, monkey.

That seemed to get everyone stoked and relaxed.  They spent the rest of the day stylin’ out this wall/hip combo.

Too bad they were here this week.  The old Casino Royale got resurrected a few days after the Guide was here, but that’s another story…

That would be Ben Boyko getting the interview on the back of the rental truck.  Too bad we couldn’t have gotten this cherry Audi R8 for our shuttle vehicle.

Today we were opening up the new creation from Andrew McIntosh, Inferno.

It’s a nu-skool contraption with lots of street inspired ramps and gaps, not too big and tightly packed for max fun.

We also shredded Addiction with the builders of that trail, Leroy and Trevor.

The boys were pretty stoked, and I’m pretty sure I caught Boyko grinning right after guinea pigging this line here.

Leroy was killing everything. That boy sure has some style.

This is the very first run into this techy wallride feature.  All of these moves just flow from one to the next.  Quite a rad set…

Andrew, on the jump right after that wall.  He’s trying to alley oop, right to left.  Yeah, figure that out (and no, he didn’t land it clean but he was close).

Jaw dropping skills.

Reach for it.

Boyko, on the final move.

When we moved on down to Addiction, the boys really ramped it up.  I think the locals might have been a bit stoked for the camera.  This is Leroy airing about 50’ into the Addiction wall ride.  He broke some boards on landing.

Ben looked like he wasn’t going to bother with this wall, but then some old guy hanging around had a couple of runs on it which made it basically mandatory that he would have to do it.

C’mon buddy…it’s good fun.

Andrew and I had a quick run on Technical Difficulty to end the day….

…while Ben did the Rockstar thing with the camera.

I got a strange request to shuttle up today, but with all the XC bikes, I thought we’d better just shuttle half way.  You know, for the sake of good form.

Our old buddy Vance came out today to show us some of the lesser known routes in the area.  This is “High Pony”.

It sucks.

Oh wait, that’s not right.  It RULES!

The return of more typical Okanagan weather helped though.

Careful, that’s a bit of a drop eh?

OK, everyone gets their pic on this corner, don’t screw it up.

Good thing we had Vance with us.  Here’s a shot of a typical trail junction out here.  There’s actually a turn there, as we rode out past those random rocks to another trail.

See?

Dude….that’s not the line.

More sick fall riding.

Hang on, let me get my shades.  I think I see something over here.

Ha!  Good times…  Look while you can, you’re about to be married.  Anyway, thanks to Peter for calling up for this one, and to Lee for the recommendation.

OK, so another guy is getting married.  I guess it’s a sign of the times, and it’s overall a good thing.  We’ll just see how he feels after we shove him down this steep mountainside.

Ha!  He made it.  Actually, we already rode a fairly major XC trail up near Apex, but I left my camera in the van.  Oops.  Anyway, it was rad, and it snowed a little.

You’ll have to content yourself with these shots from our dessert lap near Naramata.

We had a good time, and the boys were stoked that we got to ride right back to their accommodations.

Which also included a stagette next door.  Anyone got a light?

Not sure what sort of game this is.  Either drunken stagette pin the wiener on the groom, or maybe a re-enactment of “So I Married An Axe Murderer”.

Yeah, dude looks sorta creepy in that outfit.  Wish I could have stuck around for the shenanigans, but I had to retrieve the van and prepare for tomorrow.  At least I got this vague pic of an elk on the retrieval.

As Chris really enjoyed the Naramata zone, we went back there today to hit up Arawana.  It was mushroom central up there.

It’s got so many cool features to ride, too.

He was going for everything today.

Well, not quite everything I guess.  He took pics of me on a few things instead.

Some photoshop magic to show you the huge Ponderosa’s out there.

Hey Chris, you’re sitting down!  Are you tired yet?

I know I am.  I was sucking it up though…

Some more photoshop magic from the canyon in Ivy League.  This doesn’t really show it for what it is (a huge limestone overhang), but looks sorta cool anyway.

The final descent to the beach.

While we were out playing, the ladies were visiting wineries and galleries in Naramata.   It’s mid September, and we’re still swimming.  Believe it.

Or should I say “Up a mountain”.

Only one more day after this one, so Chris is going for broke on the log rides.

I still couldn’t get him to try this drop, though. Oh well, they’re talking seriously about moving out this way, so he’ll get another shot at it.

This is near the spot where Chris started asking me a bunch of questions about mushrooms (seems he’s been threatened with expulsion from the MTBR forums for posting too many mushroom pics).  I said Ididn’t think there were any around, and then spotted these HUGE puffballs.

Seriously….HUGE.

Didn’t feel like stopping for that long though. Look at how much descent we still have to do.

It took a bit longer than usual.  Had to stop for so many photo opps.  It’s nice with the sage in bloom.

Some seriously sick shots here…

…including my pick for the shot of the week.

Not that this one is all that bad, but that last one is epic.

Another one of yours truly, silhouetted.

A stock angle of Chris. Everyone gets one of these if we ride this trail together.

It’s a bit drier than Ontario, eh?

Chris managed to bail into one of these.  No big deal, but it’s gonna be weeks before the last spine comes out of his hand.

OK, so that was very nice, but now we need to slake the thirst.

Judy gets some practice pouring left handed.

We took a scenic drive through Canada’s only desert on the return trip.

It’s quite a sight, and unique in Canada.

Oh, and some wildlife shots for you.

Oreamnos amerianus, the Mountain Goat.

And another Praying Mantis when I got home.

PS – Happy Birthday Mom!

It’s sort of traditional to get lost out here.  Can you see why?

At least I can always find this spot. 

We killed a good half hour here trundling rocks.  One good thing about all the blowdown; it’s easy to find big rocks to huck these days.

Sheila, with the first of the fall colours.

Ooops, we went the wrong way.  I bet that full face helmet doesn’t seem like such a good idea at this point.

OK, so it’s not much of a wildlife shot.  Chris got stung, and from the looks of it, it was a bee.

Have I ever warned you to NOT click a pic?

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  The next shot is safer.  Not sure about riding under that big dead tree, but at least you can click on it.

We finished up at my favourite apres ride spot on the Kelowna waterfront, the patio at the Eldorado.  Nice photobomb on the left, lady.

Judy-Lynn’s shiner is sure fading fast.  I can’t believe how quick she’s healing.  Some great appies and a nice sunset to end another great one.

Dave’s been hard at work.  It’s been so dry this summer that it’s all about the woodwork.  Digging just doesn’t do any good with how dusty it is right now.

Dang it, I hate it when people leave litter on the trails.

Freight Train!  I love that move…

What…no wildlife today?  I know, I can’t believe it either.  Maybe tomorrow.

Thanks to Judy-Lynn for the pic. Since she couldn’t ride, she hiked to the top of the mountain, just because she could.  Now THAT’S what I call team spirit.

Some minor mechanical problems resulted in a few minutes of downtime at the end of the day, but the mountain staff was rad enough to give us a bonus hour of riding time to end the season.  How do you all feel about that?

Yup, thought so.  Here’s the very last crew of the year at the top of the hill.  I was sort of sore after getting trashed by Lorraine (another former DH superstar chicka from around here), so I went with the rest of the old boys to an off piste trail.

There you go, the boys ending the year with a run on Stubbys

Pretty good form, I’d have to say.  We shredded a run down the Peat Bog and then checkout out the local creek for some more wildlife.  Kokanee isn’t just a crappy beer, it’s actually the name of a kind of land-locked salmon indigenous to the lake.

Then, on the shuttle return, I ran across these California Bighorn Sheep.

Pretty awesome, I’d have to say.  So is this phat Ponderosa pine tree.  There’s a stand in this one trail we regularly ride that must be a couple hundred years old.

I think Chris is liking round 2.

Stylin’ action shot in the bunchgrass.

Yup, that’s the sunset.  Thumbs up.

OK, so Judy-Lynn will be out of surgery soon.  So we’re out for today.