Vernon ATV Club

Friday Night BBQ & GPS Challenge

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5:30-6:30pm BBQ, 7pm Ride Start Friday September 8

Are you up for a Friday night ride? How about a BBQ before we head out to test your GPS navigation skills?

Mandatory registration for the BBQ by email to info@vernonatvclub.ca by 3pm on Friday September 8. Tell us how many people and hot dog or hamburger.

The BBQ runs from 5:30-6:30pm, the ride heads out at 7pm and go until??? You’ll need headlights because it’s getting dark around 8pm these days. BBQ is at the King Edward FSR staging area directly off Highway 6, 9km east of Vernon.

For the GPS Challenge portion, one rider in the group will be assigned the task of navigating to the next GPS coordinate (the group will ride together, we don’t need folks lost in the dark).

Bring your GPS or your phone and GPS app and your questions, a number of club GPS trainers will be in attendance to help. Remember to pack extra clothes when riding at a higher elevation, the weather changes quickly and often is rainy and cold when it’s nice at the valley bottom.

Rides are open to everyone, if you’re not a member please feel free to come to a couple of rides to meet other riders and find new trails. 

Get back at it Ride!

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9am start – Sunday September 3 @ King Eddy

Rain, rain, rain… now it’s time to get back to riding. The ride starts at 9am this Sunday, September 3 at the parking/staging area at King Eddy just off Highway 6 with a planned wrap up around 2pm.

This ride will be a mix of FSR and trail, most riding is at an upper beginner to intermediate level with a few more technical sections sprinkled in. This is not a slow sightseeing ride, plan to cover 80-100km. There will be a couple of breaks, bring snacks or lunch.

Riding on the Aberdeen Plateau means changing weather conditions, come prepared with extra clothes because there is an increased chance of cold and rainy at elevation.

Rides are open to everyone, if you’re not a member please feel free to come to a couple of rides to meet other riders and find new trails. 

Mara Mountain Lookout Ride

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9:00am July 30 start time at 3 Valley Mabel FSR

It’s a bit rough and rocky getting to the top but the view is well worth it.

A convoy starts in Vernon from Tim Horton’s on 58th Avenue (across from Walmart) at 7:30am Sunday July 30 for Enderby where we meet at the Enderby Tourism Visitor Centre (turn right at the RCMP detachment onto Granville Ave and continue straight to Railway Street where you turn left and park).

Vernon Tim Horton’s (58th Avenue) to Enderby Tourist Visitor Centre

https://goo.gl/maps/iCiZ4Zx6y17vqqqu5

Enderby Tourist Visitor Centre to 3 Valley Mabel FSR

The second leg of the road trip leaves Enderby at 8:00am for the staging area on 3 Valley Mabel FSR. Drive 30km east of Enderby on Mabel Lake Road and turn left onto 3 Valley Mabel FSR when you see the snowmobile area sign.

If you’re not ready to join the convoy then you need to study the directions so you can find your way there.

https://goo.gl/maps/b43sFmBhtLqW82Bu7

There will be a short safety meeting before the 9:00am ride start.

Ride Details:

  • Total ride length approximately 70km = one tank of fuel
  • Upper beginner to intermediate level ride difficulty
  • Extremely rough and rocky terrain
  • Off trail riding will not be tolerated!!!
  • Bring snacks, drinks and a lunch as there will be a short break for snacks and an extended break at the lookout
  • Bring bug spray and sunscreen
  • The ride is open to everyone, you do not need to be a Vernon ATV Club member to attend

Friday Night Ride @ Mt Ida

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7:00pm Start from Deep Creek Rd Staging

The ride will start at 7:00pm Friday Evening from the staging area 1km up the FSR from Deep Creek Road (the driveway marker opposite the FSR is #487 Deep Creek Road).

The track we are following says it should take about 3-4 hours depending on how many breaks we take so make sure to bring some snacks!

The weather should be good but as usual bring your rain/cooler weather gear just in case.

Rides and events are open to everyone, we encourage new riders to come out for a couple of rides to meet club members, find new trails and get a sense of the club before joining.

Longest Day of the Year – Evening Ride

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6:00pm Start Saturday June 17 @ King Eddy FSR

It’s a club tradition that we get out for a ride to enjoy the long hours of summer daylight. This ride typically winds across the King Eddy plateau to as many viewpoints, lakes and fun trails as possible and returns to the parking lot somewhere around 10:00pm before it’s really dark enough to need headlights.

The safety meeting gets started at 5:45pm at the cattleguard at King Eddy FSR with the ride starting at 6:00pm. Bring gear for all conditions (and bug spray), it’s June so it could be hot or it could be raining, or both!

Vernon ATV Club Rides & Events are open to everyone, we encourage new riders to join us for a couple of rides to meet folks, find new trails and decide if the Vernon ATV Club is for you.

Ride Recap

We had 11 people (8 machines) come out for our (not so) longest day of the year ride on June 18th. We had to turn around once due to trees on the trail and the plan is to head back out for a clearing run to get that opened up. Otherwise we followed the FSR over to the Lobster Trail and rode up to the radio tower for an evening view. The view then got a little dark with some black clouds bearing down on us. No one wanted to get caught in the possible coming storm so after a few bites to eat we headed down the trail passing a few groups of happy campers.

Just as we got back to the trucks the rain started and quickly went from vertical to horizontal (talk about good timing!). All it all while it wasn’t as long as we wanted it was still a decent evening ride.

King Eddy/Noble Canyon Cleanup Recap

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12 members of the Vernon ATV Club gathered roadside garbage from 0 to 7km on King Eddy Road and at the abandoned RV at 2km on Noble Canyon Road Friday May 26 and Saturday May 27.

A group started Friday afternoon by breaking down the RV into smaller pieces then transporting them to the bin at King Eddy and returned Saturday to remove the remaining junk pile while another group worked their way up to 7km on King Eddy picking up roadside garbage Saturday.

A huge thanks to everyone who came out to clean up!!!

King Eddy & Noble Canyon Cleanup

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Friday May 26 through Sunday May 28

Come join us for a weekend of camping, good company, and cleaning our local stomping grounds. We will be dealing with the litter and old RVs along King Eddy and at Noble Canyon.

The gate to the sort yard at King Eddy will be open Friday evening so feel free to come out with your campers and tents. Be sure to follow the yellow arrows going into the sort yard, it’s pretty mucky right now so you don’t want to get off the beaten path.

The plan is to use our trucks, SUVs, trailers. to pick up and haul junk because it’s way quicker than using ATVs. There is a big garbage bin in the sort yard where everything will go so we’ll likely have multiple trips from the sort yard out to the various garbage deposits then back to the bin.

Saturday night dinner will be provided but if you want “adult drinks” you must provide your own as everyone has different tastes. Please RSVP by Friday May 26th if you would like dinner on the Saturday so we can make sure we have enough for all.


What You Need to Know

  1. Register by 5:00pm Friday May 26 to if you would like in on the Saturday afternoon BBQ.
  2. The gates to the Sort Yard on King Eddy FSR open at 5:00pm Friday May 26 for campers.
  3. Dry camping is available Friday and Saturday nights, gates close at 6:00pm Sunday.
  4. The Clean Up safety meeting starts at 9:30am Saturday May 27.
  5. The Saturday afternoon BBQ starts at 5:00pm Saturday May 27.
  6. There will be a ride from King Eddy staging at 10:00am Sunday May 28.

Getting Here

All the action takes place at the Sort Yard which is the gate to the left of the cattle guard at the bottom of King Eddy Forest Service Road. The gate will be open from 5:00pm Friday evening until it closes at 6:00pm Sunday. Google Map to Sort Yard – https://goo.gl/256nGA

We will have an outhouse at the Sort Yard but there are no services for campers (water, sewage, electricity), it’s dry camping in a large field.

What to bring for the cleanup:

  • A truck or trailer for the cleanup
  • Your trusty navigation & communication tools
  • Good boots, gloves and clothing for all weather
  • A rake, shovel, rolling magnet and bucket (if you have them – they’re used for pallet fire cleanup)
  • Bug spray and sunscreen
  • Food and drink during the cleanup

We will be supplying garbage bags, 5 gallon buckets, a list of cleanup areas and a giant dumpster to put all the garbage in. Some of the cleanup sites will be concentrated areas but we will also ask some people to cruise the roads and trails looking for trash.

After the cleanup we’ll have a way of getting yourself washed up before diving into the big BBQ to thank all the amazing volunteers for their hard work.

Picking up after other people is only so much fun, that’s why we have camping and rides planned throughout the weekend. We hope you can join us to camp for the weekend or take in one or more of the rides.


Schedule of Events:

Friday May 26

  • 5:00pm – Gates open for campers (Map to Sort Yard)
  • All evening – Stories around the campfire

Saturday May 27

Sunday May 28

  • 10:00am – Pre-ride safety meeting
  • 6:00pm – Sort Yard gate closed

Sunday May 21 – Bear Creek Trail Clearing Ride

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Convoy leaves Vernon @ 8:30am, 10:00am Ride Start

It’s time to hit the Bear Creek trails on Westside Road, in exchange for trail clearing you get to ride for free for the day. Bring your chainsaw, handsaw or just bring some gloves to help chuck logs off the trails.

Our usual convoy leaves the Tim Horton’s on 58th Avenue across from Walmart Vernon at 8:30am for Terrace Mountain Road on the Westside. 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 of meeting location to Terrace Mountain Road.

Ride speed with reach up to 60kmh on Forest Service Roads, ride difficulty will be beginner to intermediate with assistance should we encounter difficult obstacles. We may pass recreation sites with outhouse facilities so plan accordingly.

Ride Recap

Thanks to Bear Creek trail trimmers (Angeline, Brad, David and Jeremy) who braved the morning deluge to get a couple hours cutting blowdown further off the trail before the heavy rain returned after lunch.

The trails we rode were all passable but the Okanagan Trail Riders Association encourage everyone to trim back a couple feet further which adds a huge safety factor and produces a really nice trail – https://www.youtube.com/@bearcreekohvokanagantrail…/videos

It was a really fun ride, check out the track on GaiaGPS and remember to buy your day or season pass for riding at Bear Creek. – https://www.okanagantrailriders.com/passes

Friday Night Ride @ King Eddy

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Ride starts at 6:30pm Friday May 12

You can’t always fit in a weekend ride so evenings are a sneaky way of getting a ride in without losing an entire day. 

The plan for this ride is to complete the planned loop to Beaver Lake from Saturday’s ride. Be ready to ride at 6:30pm Friday May 12 at the King Eddy staging area (9km east of Vernon on Highway 6).

Club riders are open to everyone, we encourage new riders to come to a couple of rides to see what the club is like before you join.

Ride Recap

It was an awesome turn out Friday night at King Eddy. 14 machines (5 ATV and 9 SXS) and all of them were full to the brim! There was even cluster of kids that tagged along and boy did they enjoy running around burning some energy.

There were some slushy and muddy bits and a whole lot of dust to go with the heat. The group headed out around 6:45pm and were back at the trucks a little after 11pm. The goal was to do the Beaver Lake Route but unfortunately some downed trees changed that plan.

The crew then turned around and headed back the way they came which ended up being a good thing as they crossed paths with a Kia Soul stuck in the snow. Everyone came together and after a little bit of rocking they were able to push the grateful driver out.

All in all it was the perfect way to finish the week and hope we get the same turn out for the next one!

Saturday May 6 Meeting & Ride

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10:00am Meeting, 2:00pm Ride

An Open Meeting will be held at J-Ball Electronics (in the lane behind Banner Recreation at the red star in the map below) starting at 10:00am.

The club is providing coffee, donuts and pizza so please register by email by 5:00pm Friday May 5 so we know how much food we need for everyone. 

Truck & Trailer Parking at Meeting – there are limited trailer parking spaces in the J-Ball parking lot so if you’re bringing your trailer to the meeting, here are some parking options (look for the green on the map below):

  1. 45th Ave near the Roof Centre
  2. 45th Ave Purolator parking lot
  3. Along 28th Street
  4. Along 44th Ave
  5. In the corner of the BDM Motorsports parking lot (but you have to go in and buy something!)
  6. Along the west side (train track side) of 31st St

King Eddy Club Ride – 2:00pm start Saturday May 6
Arrive at the King Eddy staging area (9kms east of Downtown Vernon) between 1:00-1:30pm.

Our Safety Crew will be going over loading/unloading safety so leave your machine in your truck or on your trailer until they’ve had a chance to check out how you’ve secured your machine and then they’ll watch you unload and offer feedback. 

The ride starts at 2:00pm and will be done by 5:00pm.

Ride Recap

After a wet and nasty morning the clouds parted for the afternoon and big crowd of riders came out for the first ride of the year. The plan was to ride to Beaver Lake then ride a different way back to the scenic lookout but some snow and an unhappy belt ended the ride slightly early.

Thanks to Brad and Ginger for rocking their ride leader segments, great work downloading the route and leading the way!