Vernon ATV Club

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!

Download the May 6 Ride Segments

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It’s another chance to practice downloading map files and you may even get to lead the ride for one of the segments. We’ve broken the ride up into 5 route segments, please download these:

You will need to have Routes turned on in GaiaGPS to see these Routes.

Visit the ATV Club Trail Share on GaiaGPS and explore other trails in the surrounding areas. Map and trail information shared by the Vernon ATV Club is used at your own risk.

Customize Your Map Overlays

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How to modify the data overlayed on Gaia maps.

Did you know you can customize which data overlays your map?

On the GaiaGPS.com website click the “View Map Overlays” icon (circled top left corner) to see which map overlays are displayed. In the smartphone app click the layers icon (top right corner) then click Map Overlays (arrow) to reveal which overlays are displayed. 

There are times when there is too much data on the screen or perhaps you’re looking for a Public Track to ride but there aren’t any showing so remember to check your overlays!

Visit the ATV Club Trail Share on GaiaGPS and explore other trails in the surrounding areas. Map and trail information shared by the Vernon ATV Club is used at your own risk.

GPS Training Session 2

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9:00am – 2:00pm Saturday April 22

It’s time to get practical and apply your newfound GPS skills, the second GPS Training session will be hands on so you’ll need to bring your GPS and laptop (if possible).

The group will split into Gaia and Garmin users so we can work through a number of topics on your GPS. File management is one of the more difficult tasks so bringing your laptop and GPS cord will allow us to practice this.

Please register by emailing the club, coffee and donuts will be provided, the course will be held at J-Ball Electronics in the lane behind Banner Recreation.

Other Information in Trail Share

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Safety Alerts Added Wherever Possible

The Bardolph Lake area has some great trails but we also want to bring attention to the other information you can find in the ATV Club Trail Share.

Where possible we’ve added safety notices and this trail contains one such warning: a fun straight stretch with a hidden dip for a creek crossing. On the map you’ll see a skull and cross bones for this hazard (unfortunately Gaia doesn’t have a CAUTION icon).

When browsing the full screen map (click Explore the Map at the top of the page):

  1. Click on the waypoint icon to pull up more information 
  2. The left column will show info for that waypoint including photos (if available), elevation, coordinates, notes and links to Copy to My Waypoints, Export GPX, Open Details Page and Share
  3. The details page shows the waypoint on its own page
  4. The detailed photo for this waypoint

Please help us develop the Vernon ATV Club Trail share by using the Map Feedback page to submit maps, make comments and suggestions.

King Eddy Recreation Site Partnership Agreement

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The King Eddy area is an ATV mecca and almost every ride goes by or stops at the King Eddy Lake Recreation site.

This heavily used Recreation Site is located immediately off King Edward FSR so it provides easy access for camping and fishing year round. Most site visitors are respectful and pack out what they bring in but the ATV Club has had to hold a number of cleanups here over the years.

In addition to keeping an eye on the site and cleaning up as necessary, the partnership agreement will allow for the development of a nude beach on the lower bench. “There were a lot of requests for a nude beach at King Eddy”, says Past President Clint Ingham. “ATVers need a place to cool off in the summer and some riders don’t want to get their gear wet so we had a surprising number of people asking for a nude beach here”.

“We thank Recreation, Sites and Trails for helping us through all the paperwork and approvals required to get this agreement,” said Ingham. Signs designating the nude beach will be going up in the next few weeks once the ice is off the lake.

GPS Training Session 2 – Applying It!

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GPS Training Session 2 - Saturday April 22, 2023

9:00am – 2:00pm Saturday April 22

It’s time to get practical and apply your newfound GPS skills, the second GPS Training session is going to be hands on so you’ll need to bring your GPS and laptop (if possible).

The group will split into Gaia and Garmin users so we can work through a number of topics on your GPS. File management is one of the more difficult tasks so bringing your laptop and GPS cord will allow us to practice this.

Please register by emailing the club, coffee and donuts will be provided, the course will be held at J-Ball Electronics in the lane behind Banner Recreation.