Sicamous paddlewheeler on Okanagan Lake, north end of Penticton

Included in this post is a youtube created, splendid job too, by a local who is keen about sharing this beautiful valley he loves. Bravo Luke ! (applause)

The viewpoint is from an eagle with the camera in his claws, or maybe a drone – regardless the view is fantastic.

As you will see from watching the video, this is a valley of green and blue, browns and gold.  In the opening bits you will see the Penticton sign which is like the famous Hollywood sign except it says Penticton, and is on our very own Munson mountain. (trivia – the view from this local mountain used to be on the Canadian 50 dollar bill!! and what a view too as it overlooks the 30 or so local wineries in beautiful Naramata)

The names of these places are going to be curious to you I understand. My home city named Penticton (check the link for more detail)  is an Indian word, meaning either Meeting Place or Place to Live Forever. In the video the lake where you see people jumping into the water is Skaha Lake which is the lake at the bottom of our little town of Penticton, and only a kilometre or so from my house. About 6 kilometres to the north of my house is another lake at head or top of Penticton and that is the Okanagan lake, which is larger about 150 miles long or so.

Okanagan lake from beach level

When you are watching the video you will see people floating on inner tubes in a channel. This channel connects the Okanagan and Skaha Lake together and is about 7 kilometres long. A popular pastime in the summer is to float from the north end to the south end of town,  leisurely pace I promise you and about 2 hours from end to end. The canal was built after world war 2 to control flooding in the valley by the soldiers who returned from war and was a joint Canada and USA project. The project provided work, land and housing for all the workers who participated.

One view shows a flag at the top of a mountain, that is the top of Giant’s  Head mountain I suspect. This mountain is easily visible from Penticton and appears like a giant’s head lying down.  You can hike or bike to the top and when I biked it was more than an hour grind to the top, and a zippy 8 minute whoosh back down.  Giant’s Head is part of the town just north of Penticton, that town is Summerland (really!).

Skaha Lake, close to home

Enjoy the beautiful video, the water, the vineyards which are part of the area where I live. Maybe some day you can visit, and visit some of these wineries, float down the channel, or ride the famous Kettle Valley Railway (now part of the Trans Canada Trail).

Most importantly, thanks for reading, and visiting!  I really appreciate it. 🙂