Vernon ATV Club

10:30am Ride Start – Saturday, May 4 2024

You’re invited to join the Vernon ATV Club as we meet up with our friends from the Shuswap Backcountry Riders at Skimikin Lake north of Salmon Arm.

The Skimikin Lake trail network is a great riding area for quads and side x sides. Expect to be riding until approximately 4:30pm, the trail difficulty rating will range from beginner to upper intermediate and a single tank of fuel will be sufficient for the day.

Bring a lunch and all the recovery/safety gear you should have with you. Spring riding could mean wet and cold so remember to pack clothing for all conditions. Spring conditions also means there could be trees down on the trails so be prepared to hop off your machine and make your way to the trail blockage to help. The Vernon club rides regardless of the conditions so even if it’s raining, someone will be there!

If you’d like to join the convoy from Vernon to Skimikin, meet at the Tim Horton’s parking lot on 58th Avenue opposite Walmart. We’ll leave the parking lot at 8:30am to allow for drive time and the preride safety meeting, the ride gets underway at 10:30am.

Google Map from Tim Hortons on 58th Ave to Skimikin Lake Parking

NOTE: there is construction on Highway 1 so you must turn left onto Bolton Road to get to Skimikin Lake.

We’d like to know how many people are planning to attend, please email [email protected] to let us know if you’re coming on this ride.

Check out these Skimikin area tracks if you’d like to preload your GPS:

• Fly Hills Skimikin
• Save Your Photos Day Ride from Fly Hills
• Skimikin Smoky Day Ride

10:00am SHARP start at King Eddy FSR Staging

UPDATE – we’ve done a preride of the 60km route – it’s all passable and the club is providing hot dogs for lunch so you don’t need to bring anything for lunch, unless you don’t like hot dogs.

————————————————-

It’s a long-running club tradition is to kick off the year with a New Year’s Day ride and with the current snow levels things look set for a fun ride. The forecast currently isn’t calling for much snow leading up to January 1 so we should be able to cover some distance, if not we’ll do as we’ve done on past rides which was get as far as possible then make a campfire and break out the stories.

We’ve chosen King Eddy largely due to its ease of parking, Noble Canyon, Mt Ida Pinaus Lake would all be fun but parking isn’t as easy, safe or accommodating as King Eddy.

This is a winter ride so come prepared with winter clothing, winter tools (shovel, tow strap, etc.), your winter emergency gear and something for lunch. The plan is to have a campfire at lunch to gather around for warmth, cooking and story time.

The ride starts at 10:00am with a safety meeting a few minutes prior, don’t be late! The plan is to be done no later than 4:00pm.

King Edward Lake FSR staging is 9km east of Vernon on Highway 6.

Vernon ATV Club Rides & Events are open to the public. We encourage you to attend a couple rides and events to meet other riders, find new trails and learn more about the Vernon ATV Club.

10:00am start at La Casa Staging, Sunday December 3

It’s supposed to snow a smidge at valley level this weekend and it hasn’t accumulated up high yet so it’s a great opportunity to hit Bear Creek to explore the trails and fires from summer 2023.

If you’re looking to join the ride and want to follow others to the staging area you want to meet at Tim Horton’s on 58th Avenue across from Walmart Vernon at 8:20am. From there we head along Westside Road to La Casa then up Terrace Mountain FSR to the staging area.

We will wait at the bottom of Terrace Mountain Road (just past the LaCasa Resort development) until 9:15am then will drive up until we find a suitable area to park and unload safely along the road, the preride safety meeting starts at 10:00am. Map from Tim Horton’s convoy to Terrace Mountain FSR Staging.

We’ll have a lunch break with a campfire. Remember to dress warmly and bring your winter safety and recovery gear as we may run into more snow at the higher elevations. The ride will wrap up by 4:00pm.

The ride is open to everyone, you don’t need to be a Vernon ATV Club member to attend.

Ride Recap

What may be one of the last wheeled rides of the year was challenging but rewarding. Five riders braved the Sunday morning snowstorm and slippery conditions along Westside Road before finally finding safe staging areas (crikey the FSRs are slick these days!).

The ride climbed all the way to the base of Terrace Mountain through blowing snow and wind. A decisive 5 to 0 vote decided against trying to summit Terrace Mountain and instead the pack headed for the cabin at Esperon Lake.

What a godsend it was to arrive at the Esperon Lake cabin. Thank you Okanagan Trail Riders Association and Recreation Sites and Trails BC for shelters like this to warm up in on nasty days (and Sunday wasn’t really even that nasty).

After lunch and some time inside to warm up we were rewarded by blue skies for the return ride to the LaCasa staging area. A really fun ride, check out the track on the Vernon ATV Club Trail Share on GaiaGPS – https://www.gaiagps.com/public/qrusjBHpSffyWUGhD8r0u5V9/

10:00am Start – Finished by 4:00pm @ King Eddy

CHANGE OF LOCATION: the ride is back at King Eddy. We were concerned there would be too much snow but that didn’t materialize so we’re back to King Eddy which is 9kms east of Vernon on Highway 6.

This is usually a fun ride that eventually turns its focus to finding a tree. The plan is to hit the trails for a couple of hours before stopping for a lunch campfire then the afternoon will be making our way back toward staging with an eye for the perfect tree (or not-so perfect as has been the case in the past).

Ride Recap

That was a fun one with a big turnout of 14 machines and 18 riders enjoying dustless and minimal snow riding conditions.

The 80km route wandered the Aberdeen/King Eddy trails, stopped to enjoy the Oyama Lake campfire lookout and found some great fir trees growing on the roadbed.

6:30pm Friday October 20 start

Staging from the Salmon Arm Snowblazers Parking Lot, starting at 6:30pm for an unknown length of time (likely 2-3 hours). There will be a campfire at the snowmobile cabin at some point and aimless wandering the trails the rest of the time.

Working headlights are mandatory as the ride starts at dark.

We’ll be joined from our friends from the Traxx and Trails group.

9:30am start at Vernon Snowmobile Club Parking Lot

Starting with a safety meeting at 9:30am sharp on Sunday October 15 at the Vernon Snowmobile Association snowmobile parking lot in Silver Star Provincial Park, there is a morning work party to move the firewood we stacked so nicely (exactly a year ago) back into the majestic new Silver Star Chalet, followed by a campfire hotdog lunch then then a guided ride of the snowmobile/ATV trails in the Trinity Ricardo area.

RSVP my email to [email protected] by 5:00pm Friday October 13 if attending so we have hotdogs, pop and chips for everyone.

WORK – The morning work party will consist of carrying firewood from the outside pile into the new chalet.

RIDE – The ride is an intermediate level ride due to some mud sections, tricky rain ruts and decent pace to cover the distance required to be back before dark. A single tank of fuel will be ample for the day, remember to pack clothes for all conditions as Silver Star is at 1700+ metres elevation and the weather can change fast.

There are 3 outhouses along the ride route, we expect to be done and back at the snowmobile parking lot by 5:00pm at the latest.

Directions: The turnoff to Silver Star Provincial Park is 18.5kms from the Butcher Boys intersection of Pleasant Valley Road and Silver Star Rd, turn left onto Sovereign Lake Road, drive 2km then turn right and follow the road to the upper snowmobile parking lot where you can unload your ATV.

Ride Recap

A HUGE thank you to everyone who came out today to move the firewood into the Vernon Snowmobile Association’s new chalet.

After moving a mountain of wood everyone had a nutritious campfire lunch of hotdogs, chips, cookies, pop and halloween candies and told stories in the beautiful fall weather before a ride through the park and along snowmobile trails in the Trinity Ricardo recreation area.

Thanks again volunteers, it took a lot of people to get all that firewood stacked up inside the chalet.