Okanagan Cbdr
Ride this 1300-km loop through the mountains and valleys of the Okanagan. This motorcycle route is on dirt or gravel roads with minimal paved roads. The valleys are a vacation mecca filled with lakes, beaches, golf courses, vineyards and orchards. Each day you will ride up into the cool air of the mountain wilderness and revel in the winding forestry roads past lakes and wildlife. No crowds up here, and at the end of the day you can return to the comforts of civilization.
Many riders helped out with local knowledge and generally putting up with me trying routes that did not work. So a big thank you to Alex, Pat, Ron, Kyle and Levon. And of course, the 11 riders who did a group ride of Day 4!
The Okanagan Cbdr is a loop, so you can begin wherever is best for you. In the phone app, there are two versions, one for camping, and one for motels stays.
Motel nights are in Kelowna, Sicamous, Sorrento, West Kelowna and Oliver.
The Garmin GPS version lets you Camp or Motel it.
If you camp, you decide how many days to do the 1300 km loop. Do you take it easy, or do you ride long days and do it in 4 or even 3? The ride navigation shows over 50 campgrounds along the route and the camping version shows the fuel leg distance.
It is best to ride this motorcycle loop in a counter-clockwise direction. The navigation uses directional lines which point counter-clockwise. Also going counter-clockwise also takes you up the Hedley Nickleplate Road, not down, on Day 4. The many switchbacks on this climb are more fun and safer on the way up.
The navigation runs on the free version of the Avenza phone app. Or on Garmin Gps units. All navigation lines are wide and easy to follow.
Dark Blue lines = the main route.
Light Blue lines = alternate route.
Green lines = paved easy route.
Red lines = more challenging route.
Purple lines = access to campgrounds, lakes, viewpoints, gas and food along the way.
Symbols show last gas before leaving pavement and first gas returning to pavement.
The navigation is not turn by turn, you simply follow the colored line.
The phone app route is displayed on top of a cleaned-up OSM basemap. So if you want to go exploring on your motorcycle, you will have a great overall map showing many other backroads and trails.
In the Garmin Gps version, the BDR map is a transparent layer. You can display the route as an overlay on top of any of the maps in your gps or over the included topo basemap.
