Ale Trails: Southern Interior - Vernon & Shuswap
The Southern Interior region of BC holds an ecological cross-section of the province with alpine meadows, arid douglas fir grasslands, damp cedar and hemlock forests of the Columbia Mountains, and the warm expanse of Shuswap Lake. Not only a feast for the eyes, the diverse terrain also creates endless possibilities for mountain bike trails with a landscape dotted with historic farm breweries and apple orchard cideries conveniently located for that post-ride bevie.
Along with an abundance of flow, Vernon has more technical trails on offer with expansive trail networks at Predator Ridge, Ellison Provincial Park, Kalamalka Lake and the King Eddie Plateau which boast the 54km Killer King Route - linking the two aforementioned networks on nearly continuous singletrack. Marten Brewing in downtown Vernon even serves up a Killer King Blonde Ale which channels money directly back to the trails. Oh, and let’s not forget the Bike Park at Silver Star and Cambium Cider located conveniently at the base of the mountain.
A short drive north, Salmon Arm is the main hub for mountain biking where there are two choices of riding: low angle and fast and steep and fast with easily accessible stacked loop trail systems at South Canoe or long, epic traverses deep into the mountains, such as the Larch Hills Traverse. The manicured trails are directly supported by the Barley Station Trail Ale IPA along with two cideries - Shuswap and Northyards to wet your whistle. For growler takeaways, Crannóg Ales has been serving up high-quality beer for 22 years and were Canada’s first organic brewery and are one of only a handful of organic and zero-waste breweries worldwide.
Check out the mountain biking trails in Vernon and Shuswap on Trailforks.
'Ale Trails' is a doc-style mini-series looking at the intersection between mountain biking and local craft breweries, and how both work to support and enhance their community. 'Ale Trails' is a collaboration between Mountain Biking BC and the BC Ale Trail, and produced by adventure filmmakers, Ben Haggar and Mike Gamble / Cold Salt Collective.
Special Thanks to Tourism Vernon, North Okanagan Cycling Society, Shuswap Tourism, Shuswap Trails Alliance, Barley Station, Cambium Cider, Crannóg Ales, Marten Brewing, Northyards Cider, and Shuswap Cider.
We acknowledge the unceded traditional territories of the Okanagan and Secwépemc Nations on which we are grateful for the opportunity to live and ride.