Contributed by Marilyn Hansen (past President)
Our history began in 1998, and maybe we would never have started without the enthusiastic ideas and capable leadership of Bob Little and his wife, Kaye. They were our inspiration when they moved to Summerland. After all, they had experience from working on the Mission Creek Greenway near Kelowna. Bob founded our group, and we made a lot of progress in
establishing our route, our goals, and working with the municipality. During this time, we formed a charitable society, called the Trail and Quail Society. We laid out plans for a trail over Conkle Mountain and Bob secured an E-Team to build the beautiful gazebo overlooking Prairie Valley. Bob led us for several years. He explored all the angles and made the cross-country Canadian rally which came through Summerland a big success. Mapping was our first priority. Geoff Solly, John Kitson, and Bill Johnston, with the assistance of the Highways Department, explored building a pathway along Lake Okanagan to Penticton. At that time, a barrier was required between the highway and any pathway. This proved to be too expensive for us. The old Kettle Valley Rail bed south of the Trout Creek bridge (called Trout Creek 1) was not an option for an official trail because of legal encumbrances. After Bob passed away, Ken Anderson led our society for a while, but his work required him to move to Alberta. In 2001, I was elected president, and the name of our society was changed to The Summerland Trans Canada Trail Society to more accurately reflect our purpose. Since the route to Penticton was too difficult at that time, we decided to concentrate on what we could do: build a trail over Conkle Mountain from Fenwick Road to the Rodeo Grounds. This trail is 3.8 km. long and follows the old water distribution (flume) line. We raised money, mainly by selling metres of trail: $50 bought ten metres, a handsome certificate, designed by Henri Frioud, and the donor’s name inscribed on our donor’s plaque (on Brown St. behind the badminton arena). Two hundred dollars bought a larger plaque. (D’Arcy Dunn looked after this since he moved to Summerland). Those members who did not wish to pay a yearly fee of $20, paid a one-time flat fee of $100. We also sold Trans Canada Trail memorabilia, sweat shirts, and we participated in a Trails BC fundraiser with 500 cyclists being transported to Myra by bus and then riding the 80 km. stretch of KVR to Penticton. But I am getting ahead of myself. The ride from Myra was in 2008. The municipality gave us free gravel and $12,000. Geoff Solly oversaw the Conkle Mt. project and Bill Johnston ran the compacting machine. The gravel was laid, watered and compacted. Bill Johnston’s experience in road building was immensely helpful. But the material did not pack well. The gravel did not have enough “fines”. Yet the trail became very popular. Henri designed and made attractive quail signs which he placed along the trail as well as getting other signage from the Toronto Dominion Bank and fauna signs from the Bronfman Foundation, which Henri erected. Wayne Szucs helped clear the upper trail for horses and kept the lower portion clean. The trail was enhanced by a gazebo overlooking Prairie Valley, which an E-team had previously built in 1999. Patrick Amundsen painted the stairway. Geoff Solly made many donors’ memorial benches as a fund raiser and erected them in scenic locations. Next, we wanted to access the KVR rail bed to Faulder, since it didn’t seem that the KVSR (Kettle Valley Steam Railway) was using most of it. However, the KVSR Society didn’t want to relinquish their rights to this stretch, so we had to find a route over Ministry of Highways land and municipal land. The Ministry of Highways gave us permission to cross their land from Bathville Road and we worked with Ron Sherk (our GPS man) and Dale MacDonald, (our recreation director), to find a route over municipal land. We also had to involve the railway safety inspector for the sections crossing the tracks and for building along the tracks to ensure proper sight lines and safety fencing. We had to be 6 feet away from the inside edge of their passing track, but the proximity of the Trout Creek didn’t allow for enough room. David Smith of Fisheries showed us which vegetation had to be replaced if we moved anything in the riparian area. Bill Johnston got four different bids for the work. In the meantime, we built up a good relationship with the KVSR by joining a committee led by Rick Valenti and others from Penticton and Summerland to deck the Trout Creek 1 bridge near the Research Station. Geoff Solly and I were involved with the 72 meetings it took to get the bridge engineered and decked to safety standards. It has become a popular focal point in Summerland and was opened to great fanfare in 2004. This cooperative project brought our two societies together in the best possible way. Near the bridge, there’s a little garden of native plants, chosen by landscape architect, Donna Lane. I bought the vegetation and the high school students planted the selection under the supervision of Donna Lane. Geoff Solly made and installed a memorial bench near the garden to honour our founder, Bob Little. Meanwhile, the trail to Faulder from Summerland was moving along. Eventually, gabions were put in with fill, up from the high water mark of the Trout Creek, to provide enough space. We acquired safety fencing from the Okanagan Similkameen Parks Society and from the Community Foundation. This trail was built with private donations, money from the Trans Canada Trail Foundation in Montreal, and from BC government funding. The compaction is good on much of this trail. The best gravel came out of the Westbank pit. We learned to have gravel tested for compaction suitability by Frank Co***lo of Okanagan Testing. At Faulder, we were able to build on the old KVR rail bed to about 2 km. beyond the forestry campsite (forestry campsite is at km. 44.9). Part of the ground was immensely sandy. The trail surface is good now except that ATVs are slowly causing ruts, and dirt bikes wreck the surface doing “wheelies”. Yet the surface has stood up quite well. Katim Enterprises oversaw this project. Ron Sherk put up kilometer markers. D’Arcy Dunn installed the non-motorized signs supplied by the province, which were stolen within a week. D’Arcy Dunn, Geoff Solly, and Sandy Berry have made numerous inspections along the whole route, clearing debris when necessary or removing a fallen tree. Edger Kelbert patrols the trail regularly on his ATV. He has informed us when there are landslides to be cleaned up. Three bridges west of Faulder were built. Two map signs and one historical sign were donated. We acquired other historical signs through donations from the Community Foundation. Henri Frioud and David Gregory are currently overseeing the design of two more historical signs from a Community Foundation Grant. D’Arcy Dunn installed the historical sign at Faulder. So far, in our operating time from 1998 until 2013, we have four bridges built, over 25 km. of trail, one gazebo, three kiosks with historical signs, two biffies, and six picnic tables at scenic points. One has been trashed and thrown into the Trout Creek this spring. This was very disappointing. Our large metal gate on the Fenwick end of the Conkle Mt. Trail was stolen as was the charming sculpture honouring Bob on top of the gazebo. We are one of 800 communities lucky enough to be on the Trans Canada Trail route. The Summerland portion reaches to within 1.5 km. of Osprey Lake. Part of the trail goes through the municipality on roads, but much of it is on the old KVR rail bed. However, there is a 14 km. gap between Summerland and Penticton. This has not been resolved.
