Trails, like fine wines, reflect the soils and circumstances in which they are crafted.
Canada’s second-largest wine-producing region lines the nearly hundred-mile shoreline of fjord-like Okanagan Lake, in southern interior British Columbia. Here in the sunny, semi-arid Okanagan Valley, the deep lake moderates temperature extremes, and growers boast of different soil types around every corner. The soil produces bold, yet balanced, wines. And at the north end of the lake, near the town of Vernon, it has done the same for mountain bike trails.
There are more than half a dozen — and growing — trail systems within 20 minutes of downtown. A new family-friendly skills park sits right in the heart of the city, and just up the hill, SilverStar Resort boasts one of the longest-running lift-served bike parks in the world. Together, these offerings reflect a growing movement toward close-to-town trail access. In Vernon, that access comes with a backdrop of sun-drenched Okanagan slopes and the sandy shores of a trio of lakes, perfect for post-ride swims.
Successfully building legal MTB trails on BC Parks land near the town of Vernon
In the same way the moderating effect of the landscape influences what kind of trails get built, the moderating influence of the land managers has influenced how they get built, too.
“I think what’s happened here that’s different than other communities is that our land holders are BC Parks,” said Julie Melanson, the Executive Director of the North Okanagan Cycling Society (NOCS). NOCS oversees the maintenance of nearly one hundred multi-use trails in the greater Vernon area and celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. “That’s sort of driven the way we build trails.”
In contrast to other parts of the province, where Crown (both federal and provincial) timber lands predominate, BC Parks administers nearly all public lands around Vernon. Historically, the difference in appetite for mountain bike trails between the governing bodies was roughly analogous to the difference between National Forest and National Park lands in the U.S.
However, with one of the strongest club presences in the province outside the population-dense and pedal-crazy coast, NOCS has forged a healthy relationship with BC Parks, allowing it to work past bureaucracy and advocate for mountain bikers.
“You have to have a legit club, or Parks is not going to talk to you,” said Alex Lane, Service Manager at Vernon’s Sun Country Cycles and a coach for the Vernon High School mountain bike team.
NOCS notched one of its first and biggest wins when it successfully worked with BC Parks to legitimize mountain bike trails at Kalamalka Lake (Kal) Park, on the steep forested slopes above its namesake lake on the east side of town.
Like most forested slopes in BC, mountain bikers over the years had scratched out steep, not-quite-legal lines and hammered in North Shore-style skinnies. NOCS cleaned up some of the sketchier wood features that had fallen into disrepair over the years (as well as some of the more colorful trail names) but left the essential character of the trails intact. The corkscrewing chutes and stair-stepping slabs of the double-black trails Fraidy Cat and 36 proved that “cleaned up” doesn’t have to mean “watered down,” while the construction of intermediate trails like Stone Free and Twisted Sisters broadened the appeal of the formerly rogue riding zone.
In doing so, Kal Park became one of the first provincial parks in BC to sanction mountain biking, demonstrating that clubs could work within the agency’s mandates and still create a desirable riding experience.
“Because the club is forced to do things properly, it raises the bar a little bit,” said Lane.
At Silver Star Provincial Park, just outside SilverStar Bike Park, the Sovereign Lake trails represent a continuation of the partnership between NOCS and BC Parks. The raw, multi-pitched slabs and gaps of double-black Hammered Cow predate official BC Parks involvement. Rock is the New Berm, a black trail built under the blessings of the Parks department, presents a more refined — but no less fun — approach to the terrain, full of shoulder-high rock rolls and loamy turns. By contrast, Ellison Provincial Park, just above the shores of Okanagan Lake, boasts mellow, wheels-on-the-ground XC trails.
NOCS has begun working with other land managers, too
The diversity of landscapes under the Parks umbrella allows for a well-rounded trail inventory, but it means all those eggs are in one bureaucratic basket. Because BC Parks administers nearly all the trails in the area, a single policy change can also have an outsize effect.
“During COVID, when they shut down Parks, we lost all our trails,” said Melanson. “So, we said, OK, let’s broaden our horizons of the landowners we work with.”
The club began working on the Vernon Hill (Ranchlands) project, which, when complete, will be the first publicly owned trail network in the area that’s completely outside BC Parks’ jurisdiction. The project, situated on the open, grassy slopes that buttress the east side of downtown, also advances the club’s goal to provide more beginner-friendly terrain close to town.
It’s all part of NOCS’ plan to build with intention. And while “something for everyone” is as unrealistic as it is cliché, the community has gone above and beyond in accommodating a broad swath of the bicycling community.
SilverStar is one of the longest-running lift-served bike parks in the world
Up the hill at SilverStar Bike Park, “something for everyone” looks more like progression, where riders can level up their skills over a long weekend. The secret is consistency: a beginner rider can carry over the skills from the easy rolls of Challenger to the tabletops of Jedi Mind Tricks and Super Star, yet experts can have as much fun on those as the pro-level Walk the Line and Title Line. SilverStar’s berms will convert even the staunchest tech-trail partisan.
SilverStar celebrated its 30th year of operation in 2024, marking its heritage as one of the world’s first lift-served bike parks. Despite its storied history, SilverStar has remained at the forefront of trail design, with new trails like Chien Chaud (French for “hot dog”) deftly mixing tech and flow into one well-rounded ride.
Local builders have created a consistent trail feel across the region
Local trail builder Cam Sorensen can take much of the credit for that consistent, quality feel. Sorenson’s shovel prints can be found throughout the North Okanagan, from his work on many of the early and renowned rogue trails in the greater area, all of which have since become sanctioned trails, to more than 15 years as Manager of SilverStar Bike Park. As the founder of Contour Trails, Sorensen has brought that expertise off the mountain to projects throughout Vernon, from Flovid at Kal Park to the skills trails and jump lines at Becker Park downtown.
The latter project opened in 2024 as the result of a partnership between NOCS and the City of Vernon. Municipal bike parks can often feel like a killed-by-committee compromise. Not so Becker, which occupies a place of pride in the heart of downtown as part of the city’s Recreation Complex. Slap a berm at Becker or send one of the massive shark fins that provide an aerial view of the curling centre, and that same skill translates up the hill at SilverStar. And if the picnicking families cheering on groms at the Velosolutions-designed pump track any given weekend are any indication, the kids in Vernon will be more than alright.
“At the opening ceremony, the mayor said, ‘I didn’t realize how high the jumps were going to be,’” said Melanson. “And I said, ‘And in a week they’re not going to be high enough.’”
Vernon is home to a deep roster of hometown heroes
Vernon’s riders with skyward aspirations have a lot to look up to, considering the number of freeride and slopestyle pros who call the area home. Brett Rheeder, Tom and Bas Van Steenbergen, and Matt McDuff, among others, all live around Vernon, and their build projects for films occasionally end up open to the public. Vernon has perhaps the world’s highest quantity of Red Bull Rampage hardware per capita.
“If you want epic, raw terrain where you can design and build what you want, Vernon has it,” said longtime local mountain biker Cody Cosens. “I think that’s why so many pros live here: they can build what they want.”
The trickle-down influence of having hometown freeride and slopestyle pros, along with a pedigreed trail builder, is evident at Noble Canyon, a shuttle-centric zone located east of town. In the long shadow of trails like 2 Dollar Hotdog, which have appeared in Brett Rheeder’s film segments, a new generation of riders, many of them from the NOCS Trail Ninjas youth program, are crafting their own lines, all in the name of progression.
Singletrack meets putting green at Predator Ridge
Perhaps nowhere in the area epitomizes Vernon’s pursuit of balance more than the trail system at Predator Ridge, a luxury golf resort community perched on a rocky prominence above Okanagan Lake west of town. Here, the resort has opened its trails to the public free of charge, creating a mix of putting greens and double blacks, with singletrack crossing cart paths and winding behind multimillion-dollar villas. At the clubhouse restaurant, flannels and knee pads co-mingle with golf plaids.
Predator didn’t simply slap down some gravel paths to fill out space in a sales brochure; the resort contracted Contour Trails, and Sorensen’s handiwork shows on the short, session-friendly slabs and rock rolls of Rock Garden Playground and the big tabletops of the Jungle Gym Jumps.
The trails have been a hit with out-of-towners and resort residents alike: Predator Ridge management polled its residents, asking which amenity — golf, biking, hiking, or pickleball — was their first-choice, day-to-day activity. Shockingly, biking rated highest, even over golf.
With enthusiastic support from the management and a pledge to replace any kilometer that they take out for home development with two kilometers of new trail, the trail system at Predator continues to grow, with plans to extend the Jungle Gym Jumps, construct a new trail that will connect to the mellow, meandering XC trails at Ellison Provincial Park below, and build a new climb trail that weaves through the golf course.
Vernon’s mountain biking community is truly diverse
Just like elsewhere in Vernon’s golf and retirement community, grandparents and groms ride the same trails together.
“There are so many families now that live at Predator, people with young kids,” said Cosens, a Predator Ridge resident and ride ambassador for the resort. “Those families live here because it’s more of an all-around destination instead of just golf.”
The broad appeal of Vernon’s trails has attracted a more diverse ridership, too. Melanson said that when she moved to Vernon in the early 2000s, there were fewer than ten women riders in the community. Today, close to 50 riders might show up to the weekly women’s group ride, and the club’s women’s enduro celebrates its fifth year in 2025.
It’s a virtuous cycle.
“Now, more people are riding because there’s more to ride,” said Cosens.
“The general bike path, commuter infrastructure has grown immensely in the last ten years, and the city is putting a ton of effort into multi-use paths,” said Lane. “In general, bicycling is getting more popular in Vernon, and in turn, that makes mountain biking more attractive.”
The Trails Capital of BC
The “Field of Dreams” philosophy of Vernon’s bike community paid off in 2023, when the Canadian Registrar of Trademarks officially recognized Vernon as “the Trails Capital of BC.” It’s a bold claim in a province that is arguably the trails capital of Canada, if not North America. However, it reflects the city’s commitment to providing trail access to as many users as possible, from bike path cruisers to big air senders.
The attempt to satisfy as many tastes as possible often produces insipid results, whether in trails or wine. But Vernon has demonstrated that a balanced palette, with a mellow foundation but enough spicy notes to satisfy the hardcore, can pay off.
The wine is pretty solid, too.
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