Cycling Trails Near Me
Everybody asks about cycling trails near me when they are wanting to do more than cycle around the neighborhood. Thank goodness for google, because information on cycling trails near me can be easily answered by a bit of internet investigation.
Most cities have cycling trails for their citizens. Cycling is a great way to get around town and it’s also good for the environment. When people cycle, they don’t have to use as much gasoline or pollute the air with their car exhaust. Cycling is also great for cities because it helps reduce traffic congestion and makes the city more livable.
What is the answer to your search for cycling trails near me? The answer that I am fortunate to observe is the Kettle Valley Rail Trail.
Cycling As Exercise
I don’t see how cycling as exercise can be beat.
Cross country skiing and swimming are close seconds if you ask me, but cycling really can move you on down the line to some excellent places to discover.
Cycling is one of the best exercises you can do. Cycling has many benefits over other exercises such as swimming. Cycling is a great exercise to improve your overall health. It is a low-impact exercise, so it is easy on your joints. Cycling also improves your cardiovascular health, helps you lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, and can even help prevent type 2 diabetes. Cycling also gives you a great aerobic workout.
And cycling lets you enjoy beautiful vistas. Where we live there are abandoned railroad trails that have been adapted into walking and cycling trails. These trails are in the mountains and along the lakes. They offer a challenge in navigation and completion, and also planning. Cycling as exercise is great, but even greater when you are lucky enough to cycle along the KVR Trail, Kalamalka Lake section!
Kalamalka Lake
Kalamalka Lake is just flat out awesome! The minerals in the water give it an aquamarine hue, and it is as lovely as any mountain lake you will ever have the privilege of experiencing!
I have included photos of Kalamalka (Kal) Lake , but they were taken on a cloudy day and don’t do the colors anything near justice. The picture above of the rock face doesn’t show it’s vertical; it goes about 100 feet straight up!
The trail goes from Oyama in the south to Coldstream in the north, a total of 24 kms. My wife and I did 9 kms out from Oyama and then returned. We were on the trail for an hour, and it was lovely weather. We had dropped off our visitor at the airport and only had to drive another 10 minutes to acquire Oyama.
Oyama has a great burger shack! Shakes and fries and burgers are rewards for hikers and bikers who do either Kal Lake or south on Wood Lake. Either way, it is a well earned treat!
And a great plus for Kal Lake as my fav of the cycling trails near me, personally, is the overabundance of housing development in a couple of areas in the first 5 kms or so north of Oyama. If you want to see some awesome homes and yards, this is the part of the ride that you may like the best. Absolutely stunning is all I can say.
About 13 kms out of Oyama there is a park with a boat launch. Last year it was super hot and dusty and so I put my kayak in after my ride and floated along for an hour or so, just enjoying the beautiful colored water and the peacefulness of the lake.
So in conclusion, yes the entire KVR Trail System is a wonderful resource to ride. But my favorite is Kalamalka Lake from Oyama to Coldstream, it just ticks all of my boxes.
I hope you search cycling trails near me and find your own Kal Lake equivalent. And remember, you don’t have to do an entire trail. Just do what you can comfortably do, and then like me, you can go back the next time and start up from where you left off to finish the route! Have fun (and take water haha).