Mountain Bike Trails in Kelowna

Crawford End of Stewart Road East, the Mission. Free.
Crawford is Kelowna's main pedal-access network: roughly an hour of climbing for fifteen minutes of descent. Skip the flat multi-use trails at the bottom and climb Fairlane to Vapor, which is fast and flowy and badly worn by August. Locals call the summer dirt "moon dust," often two inches of dry powder. Bring extra water.

Gillard Trail Network Gillard FSR, Upper Mission. Free.
Gillard is a shuttle network, so plan on a truck with a tailgate pad or a friend who has one. It began as an unofficial pirate network, and the trail crew has since done a lot of work to legitimize it, including signage. The road up is heavily corrugated. Don't take a low-clearance car.

Knox Mountain Base of Knox Mountain Drive, downtown. Free.
Knox is the in-town network for a lunch-break or after-work lap, and Glenmore residents can pedal to the trailhead. The climb is either the paved road or the Apex trail, a steep grind that spikes your heart rate within two minutes. The descent is Shale Trail: fast, loose and exactly as named, a steep chute of sharp rocks.

Smith Creek End of Smith Creek Road, West Kelowna. Free.
Smith Creek is the West Kelowna network known for the Feel the Love climb and the Holy Bowly descent, and it's worth the drive across the bridge, though bridge traffic is heavy between 3 PM and 6 PM. Feel the Love is a smooth, well-built switchback system that makes the vertical gain almost painless. Holy Bowly is the descent to ride: high speeds, big berms and dialled flow.

Rose Valley Regional Park Rosewood Drive, West Kelowna. Free.
Rose Valley is a cross-country network for hard pedalling on technical terrain, with punchy climbs and awkward rock rolls. Daze of Roses has decent flow once you've earned the elevation, and the ridge has a good view of the lake.

Postill Lake Road Trails Postill Lake Road, Ellison. Free.
Postill is an old-school freeride zone, reached by turning off Highway 97 near the airport and heading up into the woods. It's raw, steep and unpolished, with big drops and bigger gaps on trails like Monkey Trail. It's also remote: an ambulance would take a long time to arrive. The FSR is a popular target-shooting area, so heavy gunfire while unloading is normal.

Big White 56 km up Highway 33. Check their site for current bike park ticket prices.
Big White is the lift-served option, known locally as "the hill", for days when you'd rather pay for the chairlift than pedal. The drive up Highway 33 is quickest from Rutland. The alpine dirt holds moisture better than town in the early season, but braking bumps are severe by August, and arm pump sets in after three laps.

Spion Kop Pelmewash Parkway, Lake Country. Free.
Spion Kop is the early-season network, because its dirt dries out faster than Crawford or Smith Creek. The climbs are punchy and steep, and the descents are tight and twisty through the trees. Skip the summit unless you want to push your bike over jagged rocks for a lake view.

Kettle Valley Rail Trail Myra FSR, South Kelowna. Free.
The Myra Canyon trestles are a flat gravel section of the Kettle Valley Rail Trail, on this list because visiting family will ask to ride them. For mountain bikers the KVR trestles are overrated: a wide gravel path over old railway bridges, interesting for about twenty minutes, and busy with tourists on rental e-bikes. Ride it once for the photo.

Sovereign Cycle 110-3480 Carrington Rd, West Kelowna. Parts and service.
Sovereign Cycle is the shop for modern mountain bikes, and the first call after a destroyed derailleur at Smith Creek. It carries high-end gear, the mechanics ride the local trails, and prices match the premium service.

Kelowna Cycle 2949 Pandosy St, the Mission. Parts and service.
Kelowna Cycle is the convenient shop for riders on this side of the lake or coming off a ride at Crawford. Its parts inventory is large, so the oddly specific hardware for a broken linkage is usually in stock.