PACA Road Trip Ver. 2.0

The PACA crew headed for Ellison Prov. Park again this year for our second annual PACA Road Trip. The park is amazing; clean, hot showers, kitchen sink facilities, semi-sheltered camp-sites and singletrack - directly into / out of the campsite!

The Vernon Bike Club ( http://okcycling.com ) has done an amazing amount of work, in cooperation with BC Parks, to sign and maintain the trail networks. And the singletrack trails; they are freekin' excellent!

Friday found us (me) imbibing a little too enthusiastically, which led to the first few km of singletrack Saturday morning being a real test of character and concentration; Andrew vs. the boulders didn't turn out as well as I had hoped :-) Apparently, even Talas 36's won't roll over (((everything))) Nonetheless, a wee scrape and off we go!

Saturday had us riding the Ellison trail network, and extending the trail-knowledge that we had amassed from last year. We found some of the best trails in the valley a little 'off the map' (out of the park) and even kicked in some trail-maintenance by way of tree removal while on-trail.

Sunday found me in good spirits; mainly because I drank mint tea all night instead of Nelson Harvest Moon Hemp ale... The boyz' (Gary, Curt and John - Jeremy had to leave early Saturday morning for a roof-leak emergency at home) headed back to the Ellison trails, due to some time constraints, and I headed over to the Kalamalka Lake Prov. Park trail networks. We had a good look at the Cosen's Creek trails last year, but I was curious to learn about the Rattlesnake Hill trails this time out.

As it turns out, the R.H. trail network is a real thing of beauty; megga' outstanding views over Kalamalka Lake and Cosen's Bay, buff trails, perfect pitch ascents and fast, flowy descents. This, coupled with excellent signage on nearly every corner and many friendly hikers / riders to chat with on-route made for a fantastic day in Vernon. I'm really starting to like that community. They have their trail-juju together like we can only hope for in the future.

Below are some pics of the day. Note the last two; how about that for separated lanes done right, along with safety-conscious road crossings; those are up top, near Hwy.97 on the way home. I was so impressed that I stopped for pics'.

I'm amazed that so few of you join us for these most excellent road trips... The camping is posh, the trails amazing, the company of friends beyond reproach - and what better to do with a weekend than discover and ride amazing [new] singletrack!? Next year we'll be riding another destination; the Shuswap, Rossland, the Kootneys or maybe Revelstoke. I hope that more of you will join us in making the very most of these rare group-ride / singletrack discovery adventures.