Labour day in Canada Aug 29- Sept 1

[Kokanee]

To any and all who are interested: we will be hosting a ride just outside of Kelowna BC Canada, on the labour day weekend. There will be riding for all skill levels and abilitys. We are hoping for a good showing from the locals as well as our freinds from south of the border. Directions are as follows: From the south : continue up Hwy 97 to Westbank, ( border crossing at Oroville WA) from the Chevron gas station in Westbank drive 5.65 miles to Westside rd and turn left. You will continue down this road passing log booms and Bear creek Provincial park. 9.94 miles from where you turned onto Westside rd you will make another left turn onto Bear main logging Rd. you will see signs for Bear lake fishing camp. You will pass a motocross track, log sorting yard on your left, and a gravel pit on your right. 6.15 miles from the left turn onto Bear main you will be making a right turn onto bald range rd and keeping right it will take you right to the staging area. I will also be marking the way with flouresent green arrows from the turn on westside rd. If you cross the bridge into Kelowna you have passed Westside Rd . Its very easy to find and the riding is awesome. We are planning a day trip to another riding area on saturday that will be a very challanging and technical ride for those who are interested. The camping at the staging area at bald range is very good and spacious, but there are no services. There is an outhouse and there is a creek nearby for water if needed. It is about a 2 hour drive from the border(Oroville WA) to the riding area. We hope to see a good turnout for this informal ride. If you have any questions, or these direction are confusing please post here.

 

[bbbom]

Kokanee,

Are their any hotels nearby? We were thinking of hotelling it since most likely, we won't be able to get up there until late Saturday night unless Karl can pull off a miracle & get that Saturday off.

Did you ever get my email on Mad River? I only got one of your's, not sure what happened to the first one.

 

[fatty_k]

Originally posted by Kokanee
We are planning a day trip to another riding area on saturday that will be a very challanging and technical ride for those who are interested.

Where is that going to take place?

 

[firecracker22]

Sounds like fun, I can't wait. Not too sure on the sleeping arrangements yet myself--hotels are expensive but I don't have my own tent and I hate borrowing all the time. Tell us what the place is like and how far it is from facilities. I also might have to wait until after work on Saturday, might be changing jobs.

 

[Kokanee]

Lori, there are a few motels in westbank and i can get you info if you want. Hopefully Karl can get Sat off because that is the day we were going to do the stupid trail. If you can it would be better to camp if possible, as i don't think you would have secure storage for your bikes. I did get your e-mail about mad river but somehow your e-mail address didn't make it into my address book. I was also hoping maybe you could talk some pantra people into coming up, Will, jj , ect? Tell Karl to call in sick, how often do you ride in Canada? Maybe Lori (ktm) and Lisa(trials bike) will come up? Kyle we are going to do a day trip out to Summerland to ride the stupid trail(Issentok Lake area) It is very technical and nothing in Bear creek even comes close. Everything is doable if you take time to size up the situation.

 

[Kokanee]

Just got the word on the hot tub last night and it should be ready for the labour day weekend. We just have to plumb in the wood fired heater. The blender will make an apperance of course.

 

[Camstyn]

Will there be nekkid wimmin in that hot tub like there was at the Sasquatch a few years ago? :laugh:

 

[Kokanee]

Well Cam i don't know. Will there be any of those crazy pagans there? There will be a bunch of Kokanee Bush Riders there so you just don't know what might happen! Are you going to make the long trip over for the weekend?

 

[Camstyn]

I'm going to try to be there, it sounds like fun.. I've been off the bike for a month now, my new ignition should be in so I should be good to go for next weekend.

Any attendees going to the GP course that Josh is setting up for us next weekend in Southern Washington?

Cam

 

[Kokanee]

Well only 15 days to go and I am still uncertain about turnout of riders. If this helps to motivate we got the hottub installed and should have the heater in this weekend. We also got some rain and cooler tempuatures so we might get lucky and ride without the dust. Hope to see a good showing of riders.

 

[SpeedyManiac]

I wish I could go but I'm heading off to Edmonton for university. It's gonna be tough not riding from september to the end of april. Have a great ride, and maybe I'll be able to be there in a few years.

 

[bbbom]

Still planning to be there Sat night - Monday at least. Karl is trying to get Saturday off but we won't know until next week.

I'll see how many PANTRA members plan on going and let you know.

 

[zero_it]

Hey Kokanee,

I'm trying to talk my husband into making the trip. Hopefully you'll see us both there. Right now I'm waiting for parts to rebuild my KTM. It's all apart for main bearings and a top end. With any luck the gasket kit and piston kit will get here in the next couple of days and I'll get it reassembled this weekend. Any chance that the forest will be closed due to fires or lurking fire danger? I'm not sure how close this area is to the fires up in the interior, but it looks a bit too close for comfort on TV.

 

[fatty_k]

There is a massive fire burning directly accross the lake from my house (and the riding area), but the fire is of no danger to us and the ride (hopefully will be out by then!) A lot of Provincial parks are closed, but the public forests most likely will stay open. There are absolutely NO camp fires allowed anywhere, if you are responsible for starting a forest fire, you can be fined up to one million $! Check out pics of the fire here. http://www.dirtrider.net/forums3/showthread.php?postid=643266#post643266

 

[Kokanee]

As Kyle said the fire is on the other side of the lake from where the ride is. They are fighting it hard and hopefully it will be under control by the long weekend.We will just have to be very careful and will not be able to have campfires.The heater system for the hot tub is prpane with a wood back up so we should be able to use it without burning wood. There is rain in the forecast for this weekend so we might have a ride with no dust hopefully.

 

[fatty_k]

Kokanee, the BC government put a voluntary ban on backcountry recreation in place today, and they say if the the conditions do not get better (rain!) they will close off the entire backcountry to recreation. Just a heads up, but hopfully we will get some rain soon!

 

[firecracker22]

Wow, keep us posted on the plans for the weekend. Does anybody have any backup ideas in case it stays closed?

 

[Kokanee]

BAD NEWS! The provincial government has closed us down for all backcountry recreation today. They will be fining as well as seizing vehicles and property found breaking the ban which is scheduled to last at least 3 weeks. We will have to reschedule this ride for another time(early October?) Any riding down in Washington State? We could possibly come down there if we make plans soon. Sorry to do this on such short notice!!

 

[firecracker22]

That's terrible news! Everything over here is still closed. How bout you guys west of the Cascades? Or over in Idaho?

 

[fatty_k]

The fire is now burning homes and within the Kelowna city limits. I can look off my balcony and see the flames within (what looks like) 50 yards of street lamps and house lights. I can see with binoculors, actual houses burning! We are going to need weeks straight worth of rain before anything opens up.

 

[zero_it]

It's dry, dusty and crappy for riding over here in western Washington as well. Ain't going' riding unless it rains!

 

[GETMETOCA]

That's bad news about the fire! FattyK, is your home in danger??

Kokanee, sorry to hear about your plans falling through, you Canadians usually throw a good shin-dig from what I saw at Reno.

Natalie

 

[bbbom]

Bummer about the fires & cancelling the ride but without rain it would be tough.

zero_it, we have the same thing here - hot, dry, dusty & miserable. My son & his buddy talked me into a short ride from home on Saturday blech!!!!

The only fun part was when his masterlink broke so I rode back home to get one for him (he's learning to keep spares in his pack). By myself, it was almost pleasant!

We will be looking for water (two ski's are running great & the third is close) & maybe hitting the Hiawatha Trail - it's all downhill on bicycles & you can catch a bus back up the hill!

 

[fatty_k]

Natalie, my home is not in danger, but 244 homes were lost to the fire. We could see the houses burning from our sun deck. The fire is dying down near the city. But they say strong winds can flare it up again to be even worse than before. The Ministry of Forests say we need at least 50mm of rain over a 5 day period before the fires will be managable and the forests can be re-opened. But that won't happen. Most of the ~890 fires burning in our province will be burning until the snow flies.

 

[fatty_k]

This is what we could see from my house, accross the lake. I did not take this picture. Here are the most dramatic pictures of neighborhoods going up. http://www.castanet.net/firepics/2003-08-23/index.html
As you can see from the pics, these are not small homes. Most houses range in price from $300,000 to 1 million $ and up.