Lake Country sign, Vernon side: hiking trails?

[Phoenix Within]

I heard from someone that the Lake Country sign on the Vernon side has some hiking trials leading from there. Has anyone explored these trails? How's the terrain? Length?

Any other trails in the area you'd recommend?

[rexvirtue]

not sure about those, i'll be watching to see what other say. The high rim trail is one of my fav's around winfield. lots of options for length and starting places and scenery. beaver lake rd. to postil rd. has some cool creeks, bridges and views. hike back to beaver lake rd, or get picked up at postil rd.

[Phoenix Within]

where does the Beaver Lake one start at?

[rexvirtue]

about 10 km up beaver lake rd. just past the trap shooting range. a pull out parking spot on the outside of a curve. north (right hand side heading up the road) to vernon is flat and easy through wrinkly face provincial park. south has a bridge and crosses vernon creek right away. a bit of a longish steepish climb. there is some signage around the parking area. not super obvious, but its there. brown sign with white hiking icon.

[RichardW]

I heard from someone that the Lake Country sign on the Vernon side has some hiking trials leading from there. Has anyone explored these trails? How's the terrain? Length?

Any other trails in the area you'd recommend?

I'm not completely sure where you mean, but I assume you are referring to somewhere along Hwy 97. I'll look out for it next time I'm going that way. You could just go and explore. If you do, let us know what you find. If it is much further north than the south end of wood lake, then I imagine it will be somewhat truncated by the new Hwy 97.

There is a group called WALC (Walk Around Lake Country) who have done a bit of trail work in Lake Country. The following link shows their work.

http://www.lakecountry.bc.ca/files/%7B370D558C-B430-4634-8B61-49ABDB49BCFE%7DPT%20Guide%202012.pdf

Most of the trails seem short and some of them are just roads that you can walk along. However the Spion Kopje trails are not too bad (if you can overlook the way dirt bikes and ATVs have claimed the area), with excellent views of the area from the top.

The area between Jack Seton Park and trail D contains lots of trails. I'm not too sure of the ownership of the area, but you can access it either from Jack Seton Park or from trail C.

Just walking the shoreline from Ok Centre is quite nice too, if you haven't done that yet.

[Liquidnails]

the view from the top of spionkopje is nice, but it's a *bleep* walk to the top with all the dirt bikes and ATVs everywhere. There's a rough old trail (bushwack) down to the creek that runs alongside beaver lake road, to a pretty waterfall and a completely different climate.

[Baulde]

Spion Kop is great, grab a dirtbike. Just ignore the whining hikers that are trying to remove the bikers that have been there and created most of their trails they now use.

[Liquidnails]

I don't disagree with you Baulde!

[rlconzatti]

Hey! The horses were there before the dirt bikers, before the hikers and before the houses! ;) I used to go up there myself...it was quite peaceful up to 15 years ago!
R & L Conzatti

[Phoenix Within]

Turns out the spot I was looking at is the Campbell-Brown Ecological Reserve.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/eco_re ... l#Location

[Big Al]

I heard from someone that the Lake Country sign on the Vernon side has some hiking trials leading from there. Has anyone explored these trails? How's the terrain? Length?

Any other trails in the area you'd recommend?

its a scratch made by a small cat in the 70s more of an access point to the ecological reserve that it is ... rattlesnake den there look for snake sign ... not a human made sign reserve goes pretty much to the top of the ridge probly 900 ft elevation climb

[Phoenix Within]

It should be for all types of use, dirtbikers, atvs, hunters, hikers.

Defeats the purpose of being an "Ecological reserve" then.

[Big Al]

not really any irtbike on the reserve maybe some crossing the top nothin like spion kopfe gorgeous veiw good work out too alway peaceful rarely anyone there ... capbell-brown have a history here in oyama

[Brushy Bill]

Campbell - Brown has one of the largest Rattlesnake dens in the area. Should have some good activity soon

[cheffrey]

Spoin kop has been predominantly used by dirt bikes, quads, OHV trucks etc long before I arrived in the valley 8 years ago.. and it remains the same today. I frequent the area almost daily during parts of the year, my family hike, Dirt bike and run many of the trails. the reality is - WALC (walk around lake country)has done some good work linking the already established single tracks trails created by dirt bikes into a good series of hikes that include view points, linking different forest zones etc. the extent of the work done by walc includes creating switch backs on some of the steeper slopes, linking trails together to create variable hiking terrain including varied distance and difficulty. For first time hikers the signage provided is excellent (seems excessive) and the maps created are accurate and a good resource. the part where WALC has missed the mark,, their trail signage and printed material lack some key wording -"shared trail" ... the absence or lack of mention that there are and will be off road vehicles using the same trails appears to be part of the plan to create the impression that off road vehicles have trespassed onto pristine trails created for hikers, walkers runners, dog walkers etc..so lets set the record straight, those hiking trails were all established LONG before WALC was established. 90% of the "trail" system was already there and created by a much larger user group. Perhaps its time that the off road community plaster the trees on Spoin Kop with signage indicating "their" trail system.,, then approach the chamber and council demanding that they too have a right to promote their single user trail maps and web links on the municipal and regional web sites to encourage the off road adventures in lake country.