The Kettle Valley Rail Trail - Columbia & Western Rail Trail is the longest rail trail network in British Columbia.
The spur link from Summerland to Osoyoos, originally the
Osoyoos Subdivision of the Kettle Valley Railway, is 79.5 km - 49.4 miles, connecting to the 27,000 kilometer Trans Canada Trail, known as the planet’s longest “trail” network. This section runs from Okanagan Falls north to the village of Kaleden, snaking along the western shore of Skaha Lake the entire time.
The 4 kilometer long trail begins by crossing the southwest corner of Skaha Lake on an old Kettle Valley Railway Bridge, a 496 foot, 10 inch wooden trestle bridge, then continues along the lake to Kaleden. There the railbed is interrupted, following streets for about 4 kilometers before beginning again.
From that point the rail trail continues to Penticton and points beyond, either west to Hope, from where the Trans Canada continues, or east to Midway, where it meets the Columbia & Western Rail Trail, which continues eastward.
Southward, the Kettle Valley Rail Trail continues on to Osoyoos and the Canada-U.S. border.
The Kettle Valley Rail (KVR) Trail was once a comprehensive railroad system. The decommissioned tracks are now home to an extensive recreational trail providing almost 650 km (400 mi) of connected pathways throughout the region. The KVR is designated as a walking and biking trail only.
Coordinates given are at the entrance arch for Lions Park, on the west side of an ample parking area. From there a short trail leads through Lions Park to the KVRT kiosk and the trail itself.
Following is a bit of the history of the Osoyoos Subdivision, of which this rail trail is a part.
Osoyoos Subdivision
The KVR, then a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), was built from Midway, Mile"0", to Hope in the years 1910 to 1915, with the first passenger train passing through Rhone on August 29, 1915. Passenger service was discontinued here January 17, 1964, but the line remained in operation until the CPR, after a decade of failure, finally convinced the government to allow it to abandon the line, officially abandoning it on December 22, 1978. Tracks in this section were lifted in 1979.
An ambitious irrigation scheme begun in 1918 by then Premier John Oliver would soon turn the southern Okanagan from a desert wasteland to a highly productive farming, market gardening and wine producing area. The area became so productive so quickly that, in 1920, the CPR deemed it necessary to begin construction of a spur line, the
Osoyoos Subdivision, south from Penticton, eventually to reach Osoyoos at the U.S. border.
The scheme was carried out in four sections, which initially included a barge section on Skaha Lake. The first section, Penticton to Skaha, opened on November 28, 1923; the second, Skaha to Okanagan Falls, opened on October 20, 1931; the third, Okanagan Falls to Haynes opened on November 28, 1933; the final section, Haynes to Osoyoos, did not open until December 27, 1944.
Service continued on the CPR's
Osoyoos Subdivision until, with the improvements in roads and road connections, the fruit and passenger traffic on the subdivision was insufficient for the CPR to make a profit. Thus, in May, 1972 service in the South Okanagan, which had begun at Kelowna in 1911, ceased.
The old KVR rail bed was developed during the 1990s to become the
Kettle Valley Rail Trail, part of the longest rail trail network in British Columbia. It now connects to the 27,000 kilometer
Trans Canada Trail, AKA
The Great Trail, known as the planet’s longest “trail” network.