Tourism Kelowna, the Globe & Mail

by Steven Threndyle

Once May rolls around, the last patches of snow in the hills above Kelowna will melt in the warm Okanagan sun. In Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park, a landscape decimated by the Okanagan Mountain Fire of 2003 continues its comeback. A carpet of vibrant wildflowers and verdant grasses contrast against the blackened trunks and charred timber that still remain. Even more remarkable, seeds that were released by the intense heat have germinated in the past few years, and pine and spruce saplings have firmly taken root. This young growth is truly a sign of rebirth.

The regeneration of this fire-damaged landscape also continues on a human scale. Twelve of eighteen trestles along the Kettle Valley Railway – part of the Trans-Canada Trail – also went up in flames. The Kettle Valley trail had just undergone an extensive 'rails to trails' conversion and was receiving up to 50,000 visitors per year – many of them cyclists from throughout Europe and the United States who had heard that it was one of the world's top ten trails.

Alas, the fire changed the landscape dramatically, and affected lives in other ways as well. Ed Krueger's adventure travel company Monashee Adventure Tours (www.monasheeadventuretours.com) almost went up in smoke, too. "the year the fire struck, I had over 1200 clients that I took up to ride along the nearly-flat railbed to see the trestles and tunnels. The following year, I had only a hundred people that I took up there." Various governments pledged significant amounts of money to rebuild the historic trestles at a price tag of close to $15M.

Indeed, though sections of the KVR were closed to the public, some trestles (such as the Bellevue Trestle remained intact. "I've taken up an increasing number of tourists each year, and we're hoping that the entire Myra Canyon portion can be completed later in 2007."

Krueger was forced to refocus his business and has taken advantage of the Okanagan's stature as a producer of world-class wines to offer cycling tours to many of the local wineries. "I have a much more diverse range of cycling options now than I did before the fire," he says. "I broadened the number of trips significantly. There's a lot more to see than just the KVR." In keeping with the name, Monashee Adventure Tours even offers bike shuttle services to access the man-made 'stunt trails' that plummet from near the Kettle Valley Railway and that are popular with younger 'freerider' cyclists.

For Krueger, the revitalization and comeback of the forest has been nothing less than spectacular. "The fire really did what it was supposed to, which is clean out a lot of the dense underbrush. There's just south of the Bellevue trestle that used to be quite boring because the trail was hemmed in on both sides by trees. Now, the views are truly spectacular – at one pullout you can see all four lakes (Skaha, Okanagan, Wood, and Kalamalka) in the valley. There are lots of berries along the side of the road to snack on as well. Still, the trestles are a big highlight. Visitors always marvel at what an incredible engineering feat it was to build across those canyons and gorges.