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June 4, 2014
Inside Transportation survey:
Regionally, travel within the Okanagan is up; auto use is down; transportation use has doubled; biking and other ‘active’ modes of transport is up. ...............................
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Picture perfect Have you taken a great photo somewhere in Lake Country? Send it in, we’ll show everybody. ...............................
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Gardening
Faith Today columnist Jim Taylor discovers that gardening can be a very fulfilling past time. ...............................
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Flyers ■ Bannister Chev ■ Budget Blinds ■ Cadence at the Lakes ■ Coopers ■ Home Depot ■ Jysk Linen & Furniture ■ Rona ■ Shoppers Drug Mart ■ Staples
Rail to Trail Currently decommissioned, the CN Rail line that runs the length of Lake Country is perfect for becoming a recreational paradise
KEVIN PARNELL For the past 14 years, Okanagan College economics professor Brad Clements and his family have been taking annual trips around North America and Europe visiting rail trails: Old rail lines that had been decommissioned and turned into trails. They’ve been to the Galloping Goose on Vancouver Island, the Confederation Trail in Prince Edward Island, Le P’tit Train du Nord in Quebec and closer to home the Kettle Valley Railway, taking advantage of some of the best trails in the world, hiking and biking on trails that are suitable and safe for all ages. “Rail trails are separate corridors so they are completely safe and they are flat: The maximum grade is about three per cent,” said Clements. “We’ve got aunts and uncles and grandparents who are in their 80’s and when we started there were grandchildren around six or seven years of age. Rail trails are pretty easy for any age.” Every year Clements and his extended family plan their next trip in what has become an annual adventure. So when Clements heard the news that the Kelowna Pacific Railway was folding last year, leaving the CN Rail line from Kelowna to Coldstream inactive, his mind opened to thoughts of what could happen right here in the Okanagan: A trail linking Coldstream, on the outskirts of Vernon, with Kelowna with the potential to link
to the KVR and the Trans Canada Trail. “It never came to mind because as long as we’ve been living here it was an operating railway,” he said. “Where I live I can see the tracks. We were used to hearing the trains go by.” Owned by CN Rail, the 50 kilometre stretch of railway used by the Kelowna Pacific Railway begins near the cultural district of Kelowna and ends in Coldstream, at the north end of Kalamalka Lake. Almost half of its length is along the water-front of Wood and Kalamalka Lakes. It passes through an incredible 23 parks. Since the Kelowna Pacific Railway folded, the tracks no longer carry trains. Late last year, CN Rail began the abandonment process and by early June the future of the railway will be more clear. If CN doesn’t sell the railway to an interest who wants to use it as a railway, each level of government will have the chance to purchase it. Clements says it’s a perfect situation for a rail trail, and not just any rail trail: This one would instantly become one of the best trails in the world. “We’ve been on 14 of these and this would be the most amazing simply because of its unique features,” said Clements. “There are 24 kilometers of lake front connecting a few communties. This is truly unique and then if you can connect it to the KVR which passes through wineries, you would have characteristics that no other trail has.” ••• Last week, Clements and other members of what is called the Okanagan Rail Trail Initia-
SEE TRAIL A2