Rides

9:00am Start Saturday May 10 @ King Eddy

The day before Mother’s Day, Michael is leading this trail work ride to clear the Lobster/Tunnel Trail that connects CJ Express to Oyama Lake FSR near Damer Lake. This trail is an important connector that enables a loop ride rather than having to ride King Eddy FSR back down again.

Safety meeting at 8:50am, ride rolls at 9:00am.

The plan is to perform 3 hours of trail work to clear the downed trees and alder encroaching on the trail to make a more enjoyable and safer experience for everyone.

Bring a lunch and your favourite trail clearing tool (chainsaw, hand saw, axe, brush saw, etc.) and the safety gear required for operating that tool.

A single tank of fuel will be enough for this ride. We’ll try to head for a ride after the trail work as a fun reward after a day revitalizing a great trail.

King Eddy FSR is approximately 9km east of Vernon on Highway 6, the staging area starts immediately off the highway with parking continuing alongside the road as needed.

10:00am Start Sunday April 27 @ King Eddy FSR

(NOTE – the date in the club email is wrong, the ride date is Sunday April 27)

It’s time to ride folks! Our King Eddy expert says there is still too much snow to head inland toward Bear Lake but the Damer/Oyama Lake side is opening up enough for a first ride of spring.

We’re also going to do a fire starting challenge so we’re asking everyone to bring what they normally carry on an ATV ride so you can see if your fire starting supplies will work in an emergency situation. 

This will be an easy ride as we’ll be sticking to cleared/packed roads but the difficulty will be ramped up by snow depth. Bring a shovel and be prepared to get yourself and others unstuck as we may still encounter deep snow on the ride. The goal is to go for a fun ride, not a bunch of pushing and digging but it is still snowing at the upper elevations so conditions can change.

A single tank of fuel will be sufficient for the day. Bring a lunch, we plan to have a lunch campfire.

Staging at King Eddy FSR on Highway 6 approximately 9kms east of Vernon.

Safety meeting at 9:50am, ride rolls away at 10:00am and the plan is to be done the ride at 4:00pm.

You don’t need to be a Vernon ATV Club member to attend. 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.

Ride Recap

8 machines and 12 riders attended, trail conditions varied from dusty at valley level to impassable snowy climb above Oyama Lake.

The Fire Starting Challenge went well with everyone getting a fire going with some producing a fair amount of smoke if they weren’t keep going aggressively.

A couple great viewpoints along the ride: the tower above Damer Lake and the lookout further down Oyama Lake Rd.

Download the ride track on the Vernon ATV Club Trail Share

10am start, Saturday March 1 @ Noble Canyon

It’s going to be warm and sunny so let’s hit the trails! The prediction is for a high of 13 degrees so it’s time to dust off your machine for the first spring ride of the year.

The safety meeting will be just before 10:00am so we’re ready to ride shortly after 10.

Come prepared for all conditions, the weather changes quickly in the mountains and there’s still plenty of snow out there that will probably suck a few of us in throughout the day.

There will be a lunch campfire so bring something to eat, whether you roast it over the fire or not is up to you.

A single tank of fuel will be enough for the day and the plan is to be back at the staging area and heading home by 4:00pm.

Non-members are welcome, if you don’t have a current ATV Club membership you’ll be required to sign the club waiver to join the ride.

Ride Starts @ 10am Saturday December 14

The ride starts at 10am so be there and be ready for the safety meeting at 9:45am.

We’re going to have a fun activity so we need to know how many people are coming. Email info@vernonatvclub.ca or text 250-550-5290 with your name and how many people are coming.

Ride starts at 10am, we’ll have a lunch break and plan on being back at staging around 4pm to head home. A single tank of fuel will be enough, be prepared for winter riding!

The King Eddy staging area is 9km east of Vernon on Highway 6.

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 info@vernonatvclub.ca 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.

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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.