Description

This is a great loop offering fun riding, varied views and a good excuse to visit Kathleen Lake. Start out at the Knox Mountain parking lot, and climb up Knox Mountain Drive - a road closed to cars but open to bikers which provides an easy way to gain height.

The climb is just under 4km, and ascends 257m.

Trying to break your record on it is a good way of turning it from a road climb into something a little more interesting! There are some great views all the way up the climb and, while being on tarmac isn't necessarily what mountain biking is all about, the road is an easy and convenient way of getting up Knox Mountain. When Knox Mountain Drive turns a left and goes due north, leave it behind and turn right onto a trail network (pictured on the photos above).

Immediately turn right again and follow a fun, undulating trail which swings around to the southern end of Kathleen Lake before climbing up to a trail junction in a clearing. Go right at the junction and drop briefly down a fire road before turning left and following another fun, undulating trail which winds parallel to Clifton Road.

The riding is fun enough but the proximity of the road means that it's a noisy section of trail! At an easy-to-miss turning, double back to the left and push your bike up a very steep 10 metre trail which takes you to a clearing with a great view of South Kelowna and the hills beyond.

From here there are 2 options - either follow our line and ride a cruisy bit of singletrack back to the clearing above Kathleen Lake, or ride 10 metres to the right on an even easier trail on the crest of Glenmore Ridge. Once back at the clearing, turn right and head around Kathleen Lake before going back to Knox Mountain Drive.

Either follow this back to Kelowna or (much better) follow our line down a section of singletrail which then links up with the popular Shale Trail route.