Kelowna Parks Challenge – Trip #28
This week, as part of my Kelowna Parks Challenge, I visited two parks in Southeast Kelowna plus two more in East Kelowna. Together, they represented the last parks on my list from the benches that I had to visit. Three of them were neighbourhood parks, each different from the others, and the fourth was the beautiful KLO Creek Regional Park.
Read on for my impressions!
The Trip
The two parks in East Kelowna were located in the Hall Road neighbourhood. They are both parks I had intended to explore on my previous East Kelowna adventure, but found myself unable. Hall Road runs along the left bank of Mission Creek, from just east of the KLO Road bridge to Mission Creek Regional Park. The Hall Road subdivisions sit on the slopes above the road but below the edge of the terrace. Though there have been houses on large lots in this area since the mid-twentieth century, the subdivision in this neighbourhood appears to date from the ’80s.
Southeast Kelowna, on the other side of the benches, is reached by McCulloch Road and sits above the Mission Creek canyon and the deep KLO Creek Ravine. Almost all of the land below the lip of the bench is protected these days by Scenic Canyon Regional Park and KLO Creek Regional Park, but since the 1990s, residential subdivision has been going on up on the terrace. The most prominent development in this area is Gallagher’s Canyon, which is another golf-oriented community, similar to Tower Ranch, which I explored east of Rutland.
Fairhall Park
This well-protected neighbourhood park reminded me of some of the parks I explored in Bankhead and on the south side of Rutland. Bordered on all sides by backyards, this park is connected to the street network by two walkways. This makes it a great place for local children to play, with no danger of them wandering into the street.
Relatively large for a neighbourhood park, Fairhall Park has a fairly new playground, a few trees, and a lawn to run and play on. A storm sewer runs beneath the park and its walkways, carrying the major part of a local creek that drains the area.
Washrooms and Drinking Fountains: There is no drinking fountain in this park. There is no washroom in this park.
Dog Rules: On-leash dogs are allowed in this park, but not near the playground.
Johnson Road Park
This park currently comprises a large playing field and a small playground. Curiously, these improvements occupy only one-third of a larger lot. More curiously, the lot is not zoned as parkland. My interpretation is that the city owns the large Johnson Road Property, but has not got plans for what to do with it. In the meantime, they have built a nice facility for the people of this neighbourhood.
This park is also across the road (Hall Road, to be exact) from Mission Creek Regional Park. Specifically, it is across from the Children’s Fishing Pond, which I explored on my first adventure in that park.
Washrooms and Drinking Fountains: There is no drinking fountain in this park. There is no washroom in this park; however there is a portable washroom across Hall Road at the parking lot for the Children’s Fishing Pond in Mission Creek Regional Park.
Dog Rules: Because it comprises a playground and a sports field, no dogs are allowed in this park.
Summerside Park
This lovely neighbourhood park is located in a subdivision in Southeast Kelowna. Built in the early 1990s, it is just to the west of the Gallagher’s Canyon development, which was built in the mid-’90s. The most delightful aspect of this park is the fact that the western half has been left as a forested slope and features a charming trail that runs the length of the park and connects the eastern half to secondary park entrances on the western side.
In addition to the trail, this park has a playground, a baseball diamond, a soccer net, and a tennis court. It is a great recreational resource for the people of the local neighbourhood.
Washrooms and Drinking Fountains: There is a drinking fountain in this park, near the playground. There is no washroom in this park.
Dog Rules: On-leash dogs are allowed in this park, but only on the forested trails, not near the playground or sports fields.
KLO Creek Regional Park
This is another in the excellent collection of regional parks I have visited around Kelowna. Located south of McCulloch Road, it protects a two-kilometre section of KLO Creek. In particular, it protects a part of the steep-walled canyon that, if one follows the trail beyond the park’s boundary, eventually becomes Myra Canyon in Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park.
Even though the park’s only feature is a one-way trail, the scenery along the walk is so spectacular, it doesn’t need any more “improvement”. The regional district describes this park as “four-season”, and I see why. I visited at the end of the winter and I had a great walk. Beyond the park’s southern boundary, however, there are no more official bridges along the trail. I have read that part of the trail is not good in spring, when the meltwater has swelled the creek.
Washrooms and Drinking Fountains: There is no drinking fountain in this park. There is no washroom in this park.
Dog Rules: On-leash dogs are allowed in this park, but only on the trails.
Reflections
Parks on the Benches
With this week’s adventure, I have now seen all of the parks on the KLO benches. Given the area of land there, it is a little surprising that there were only six parks. Of those six, three were neighbourhood parks, that were only put in as part of a sub-division. Two were communal recreation parks, and one was an undeveloped city lot. This tells us something about the history of city parks.
It’s only when enough people live in an area that a city council makes sure there is parkland available for them. One hundred years ago, when the KLO Company bought, divided and sold the benches to orchardists, the new landowners did not represent a dense enough population, evidently, to set aside undeveloped land.
Given my personal biases, my favourite park in the area was the Jean Road Trails. I don’t know why this particular pre-emption wasn’t turned into an orchard or subdivided for residences, but it is wonderful to have this example, even as modified as it is, of the forest that might have covered these terraces in past centuries.
KLO Creek
This week marked my first adventure along KLO Creek, but it should not be my last. The first major section of the creek, from its mouth on Mission Creek south to McCulloch Road, is protected by Scenic Canyon Regional Park. That looks like a large park that will probably take me two visits to completely explore.
South of KLO Creek Regional Park, there is an unprotected section, but south of that, the rest of the watershed is contained in Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park. How many of the locals and tourists riding their bikes along the Myra Canyon trestles realize they are riding over the tributaries of KLO Creek? How many of them care?
KLO Creek is special among the creeks within Kelowna’s city limits because it is almost completely undeveloped. Other than the trail along its length, the few bridges in the regional park, and the KLO siphon, the only major modification in the valley is the rock quarry that sits on the east side of the ravine, just to the south of the KLO Creek Regional Park parking lot. Looking at it I wondered what majestic canyon walls used to rise there.
Conclusion
Having seen four parks this week I stayed on pace. Including them, I have now seen one hundred twenty-two of the city’s parks in two hundred sixteen days, or 60% of the parks in 59% of the days. Things are going well. I can sense spring trying to burst forth, and I am excited about where I might go next.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip this week. Be sure to check back next week for my next adventure!
