British Columbia -- Hikers, Steam Train, Take Old Kettle Valley Route

KELOWNA, British Columbia - It is an amazing sight.

A string of 16 abandoned railroad trestles spans the gorges of Myra Canyon with webs of wood and steel - 4,000 feet above the vineyards and apple orchards of British Columbia's Okanagan Valley.

"Picture perfect," says Bob Delgatty, a visitor from Coombs, B.C. "There must be a story to go with this."

There is.

The Kettle Valley Railway, B.C.'s own, whistled through this canyon, teetering on the high trestles, for more than seven decades.

And then in 1989 the little railroad faded into history.

Canadian Pacific Railway, which owned the KVR, ripped up the rails as the last work trains moved down the tracks.

But the story has a happy ending.

The Kettle Valley route lives on as a recreational trail for hikers and cyclists. Some day it may become a provincial park. And a steam train . . .

To get your bearings: The Okanagan Valley, about halfway between Vancouver and the Canadian Rockies, is a drive of four to five hours east from Vancouver. Major communities, strung along the shore of 90-mile-long Okanagan Lake, include Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon.

Myra Canyon - with its loop of 16 trestles, two bridges and two rock tunnels - is the highlight in the Kelowna area.

Down at Summerland, near the holiday town of Penticton, an antique steam locomotive chugs along the last original tracks of the Kettle Valley.

It turns out that Canadian Pacific didn't lift all of the rails. A 10-mile section remained, almost forgotten, near Summerland.

Bill Barlee, minister of small business, tourism and culture in the B.C. government - a KVR history buff himself - took the lead in arranging for the province to buy that parcel, rails and all, from Canadian Pacific.

Meanwhile, the Summerland-based Kettle Valley Railway Heritage Society was campaigning for an old-fashioned steam-railway tour over those 10 miles of tracks. The section includes a spectacular trestle - 558 feet long and 216 feet high - over Trout Creek.

A return to the rails

But where would the heritage society find a steam locomotive?

The B.C. Forest Museum at Duncan, B.C., on Vancouver Island, offered to lend a 1924 Shay locomotive that used to pull logging trains on the island.

The Forest Museum and the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, B.C.'s capital, joined in restoring the locomotive.

And last summer the old steamer was shipped by ferry from Vancouver Island to the B.C. mainland, then trucked to Summerland.

"It was like hearing the baby's heartbeat for the first time when that locomotive arrived," says Deborah White, executive assistant at the Kettle Valley Railway Heritage Society.

The new Kettle Valley Steam Railway made its inaugural run from Summerland last Sept. 17.

Kettle Valley Steam Railway tours are scheduled from May into October this year.

Back on the trail

Back in Myra Canyon (about 42 miles north of Penticton), the Kettle Valley trail is crowded with families on fresh-air outings.

Members of the Myra Canyon Trestle Restoration Society - volunteers from Kelowna and other Okanagan towns - have made the trestles and bridges safe with decking and handrails.

Volunteers turned out to refit the crossings after a Kelowna cyclist, Carol Faye Fingler, 26, fell to her death through a trestle in May, 1994. A memorial cairn marks the site.

The degree of difficulty for hikers and cyclists along the KVR route ranges from easy to arduous.

There are stretches, such as in Myra Canyon, where the terrain is virtually level. But there are other sections where washouts have cut the old roadbed with gullies.

It is possible to drive some segments, but only with four-wheel-drive rigs. Myra Canyon itself is closed to motorized vehicles.

There is no food or beverage service on either end of the four-mile-long canyon. Carry plenty of drinking water. Okanagan summers can be hot.

All in the family

Randy Manuel, director of the R.N. Atkinson Museum in Penticton, has a special attachment to Kettle Valley history.

His grandfather was an engineer on the Kettle Valley. His late father, Allen, used to break trail through snow drifts with a bulldozer for KVR trains.

Randy Manuel watched the last KVR train out of sight when it departed Penticton at 11:45 a.m. on May 9, 1989.

Later, he buried his father's ashes on a slope by the KVR.

"Dad loved these hills," he said. "This is where he wanted to be." Stanton H. Patty, a Vancouver, Wash., writer, retired as assistant travel editor of The Seattle Times. ----------------------------------------------------------------- IF YOU GO

Kettle Valley hikes, train

-- Myra Canyon, scenic highlight of the Kettle Valley Railway route, is about 15 miles southeast of Kelowna. Motorists are able to reach the Myra Canyon parking area by way of a well-maintained, gravel-surfaced forestry road. The canyon itself is closed to motorized vehicles.

Another scenic section is the Chute Lake area of the Okanagan region, about 20 miles north of Penticton, B.C.

Tourism offices in Kelowna and Penticton can provide directions.

Driving time east from Vancouver to Kelowna or Penticton is four to five hours.

-- Steam Train Tours: The Kettle Valley Steam Railway will operate tours between May and October in 1996 over the last 10 miles of the Kettle Valley Railway's original tracks. A 1924 steam locomotive will pull the trains. Tours will depart Summerland, a small community near Penticton. Ticket prices are expected to be about $10 (Canadian) for adults; $5 for children. Details: Kettle Valley Steam Railway, P.O. Box 341, Penticton, B.C., Canada V2A 6K4. Phone (604) 494-8422; fax (604) 494-8452.

-- Walking and cycling tours: Myra Canyon, 4,000 feet above Kelowna, is featured on guided tours from Kelowna, mostly on weekends. Prices are $19 (Canadian) a person for walking tours; $39 for cycling tours. Details: Vintage Cycle Tours, 4847 Parkridge Drive, Kelowna, B.C., Canada V1W 3A1. Phone (604) 764-7223.

-- Lodging: The Grapevine Bed & Breakfast is a four-room country inn in the Kelowna area. Hosts Andy Szita and Marilyn Rae can arrange wine and golfing tours in the Okanagan Valley. Details: The Grapevine, 2621 Longhill Road, Rural Route 1, Site 18B, Compartment 16, Kelowna, B.C., Canada V1Y 7P9. Phone (604) 860-5580.

Chute Lake Resort is a 45-minute drive from Penticton, on the site of a former Kettle Valley Railway station. Accommodations are in six log cabins and in eight sleeping rooms (without private baths) in the main lodge, built mostly of cedar telegraph poles salvaged from the railway. Gary and Doreen Reed are the proprietors.

Rates for cabins range from $35 to $65 a day, double occupancy. Rates for lodge sleeping rooms range from $35 to $45 a day, double. Details: Chute Lake Resort, Rural Route 1, Site 16, Compartment 16, Naramata, B.C., Canada V0H 1N0. Phone 604-493-3535.

-- Additional information: Okanagan Similkameen Tourism Association, 1332 Water St., Kelowna, B.C., Canada V1Y 9P4. Phone (604) 860-5999; fax (604) 861-7493.