23. McDougall Rim Viewpoints

Category: Return

Distance: 10.6 km round trip

Height gain: 463 m

High point: 1091 m

Time: 3–4 hrs. round trip

Difficulty: Strenuous

Seasons: Late spring, summer, fall

Trailhead coordinates: N49 53.082 W119 35.244

Directions to trailhead: On Harvey Ave. in downtown Kelowna, drive west to cross the William R. Bennett Bridge. At the west end of the bridge, take note of your odometer and travel 6 km to Bartley Rd. Turn right onto Bartley Rd. About 300 m down Bartley, turn left onto Shannon Lake Rd. Bartley Rd. intersects Shannon Lake Rd. again after about 200 m. Turn right, back onto Bartley. Drive along Bartley for 2.2 km to a dirt parking lot on the right side of what has now become a gravel road.

There is a lot of elevation gain at the start of this trek, but you are rewarded with three astonishing viewpoints along an exhilarating ridge walk.

  1. The trail immediately begins as an uphill grind and will continue this way for most of the journey. There are multiple trails that switchback, but there is a 4×4 road that goes straight up. The choice is yours. This guy always picks the easiest route, even if it takes longer, so for the description of this trek, I chose the switchback option.
  2. Regardless of your choice, all trails culminate in a single solitary uphill path about 1 km, or 15 minutes, into the trip. The environment thus far has consisted of hilly grassland dotted with pine trees, but where the trails converge, the path enters denser forest.
  3. Just past an old 2-km marker the grade lessens but the trail is still going skyward. The reduced pitch lasts for about a kilometre, then finally levels off at the first spectacular viewpoint.
  4. From here the trail rolls up and down, with some flat spots, but the overall sum of this rolling is more height gain.
  5. You will come to the second viewpoint about 1.3 km (20–25 minutes) from the first. All the while, you have been skirting the edge of a high cliff on your right that provides ongoing vantage points for scenery. Just prior to arriving at this viewpoint, you will come to a T-intersection at a 4×4 road. Turn right onto the road.
  6. The second viewpoint is equipped with a picnic table, enabling you to rest your weary legs while taking in the sights of Okanagan Lake to the east and Rose Valley Lake directly beneath you.
  7. The road continues to hug the ridgeline for about another kilometre to another sensational vantage point. Here the trail leaves the ridgeline and heads into a forest. Feel free to continue from here, but I have ventured roughly three kilometres beyond this point and it is simply a walk in the woods. There is nothing wrong with a walk in the woods, but there doesn’t appear to be much of anything beyond this. Other sources claim that the true McDougall Rim walk is a 20-km round trip, and it probably is, but I don’t know what it has to offer.

Rose Valley Lake in the foreground and Okanagan Lake in the background from the McDougall Rim Viewpoints hike.