Exploring Sutherland Bay, Poplar Point Drive, and Manhattan Point
Yesterday, I went on my third adventure as part of the Kelowna Parks Challenge. I walked with my wonderful wife, Jen, and we visited four parks around Sutherland Bay, Poplar Point, and Manhattan Point: Sutherland (Bay) Park, Poplar Point Drive #1 Beach Access, Jack Brow Park, and Manhattan Drive Beach Access. Read on for my Impressions and Reflections
Sutherland Bay Park
We started our walk in this lakeside park after taking the North End Shuttle to Cambridge and Ellis. Though it is right next door to the Tolko Sawmill, this park was a pleasure to visit. A boat launch divides it into distinct north and south sections with a beach, playground and washrooms in the southern half. During our visit, different groups of people were enjoying the water, the beach, and the lawns, but not so many that it seemed crowded.
Along the shore to the north of the main body of the park, there is an off-leash beach for dogs. I thought it was part of Knox Mountain Park, but the City of Kelowna website says there is an off-leash section in Sutherland Park and I figure this must be it. To be fair to the beach, it doesn’t self-identify as either park.
Washrooms and Drinking Fountains: There are washrooms in this park at the southern end, beside the children’s playground. There is a working water fountain a few metres north of the road to the boat launch. There is also an older water fountain by the top of the bank in the southern part of the park, but it has had its fixtures removed and capped.
Dog Rules: In this park, dogs are not allowed on the beach, but are allowed on-leash elsewhere. As mentioned, there is an off-leash beach just north of the main park area.
Poplar Point Drive and Knox Mountain Park
From Sutherland Bay, we walked along Poplar Point Drive towards our next destination. The first stretch of road, along the lakeshore, is lined by riprap and a few metres of grass and gravel. Though this corridor is not technically a park, it is a popular place to walk and swim. In the city’s Linear Parks Plan, it is designated as a future segment of the Waterfront Walkway.
On the other side of the street from the lake is the great Knox Mountain Park. Because this park is one of the largest in the city and I have committed to exploring its entirety for this challenge, I decided to start chipping away at it on this trip. The part we saw on Saturday was the disc golf course. It is clear from the layout of the gravel here that this ground used to be a campsite. It appears to be well-used by disc golfers.
Poplar Point Drive #1 Beach Access
For the first time in the challenge, our route took us up a hill and away from the lakeshore floodplain. Though I will climb many more hills as I explore the areas around Kelowna, this one was a little steeper than we expected. Nevertheless, it was worth it to hike past high-end cabins with fabulous views to get to the Poplar Point Drive #1 Beach Access.
Honestly, from my research, I had expected this park to be undeveloped. I had assumed the narrow tract of land had been set aside for protection, to ensure public access in the future. We were delighted, therefore, to discover a small parking lot, a well-marked trailhead, and a short, steep trail down to a rocky beach.
The rocks on the beach were smooth and there was no trace of the golden sand the city dumps at the more popular and accessible beaches. Previous visitors had left a table and some chairs, so it made for the perfect location for a well-deserved snack break. This park was a definite highlight of our walk.
Dog Rules: Though the city website says this is an on-leash park, the sign at the trailhead says no dogs are allowed. That would make sense, since there is a beach.
Jack Brow Park
After the unexpected hike to the Poplar Point Drive Beach Access, Jen and I decided to alter our return trip to the city. We cut out a planned visit to Walrod Park, in the North End, leaving it for a future adventure. We did not, however, cut out the remaining two parks on our itinerary, both located on Manhattan Point.
The first park we came to after making our way around the sawmill was Jack Brow Park. This is a fairly standard neighbourhood park, with a large, squarish lawn and a basic children’s playground. As an extra feature, it has a concrete slab with a basketball hoop. On one side of the park, there is a pink house surrounded by a black fence that is reserved for use by the City. During our visit, we observed a covey of quail who felt no qualms about trespassing there.
Dog Rules: I’m not sure why, but this park does not allow dogs.
Manhattan Drive Beach Access
The other park on Manhattan Point is the Manhattan Drive Beach Access. This is a beautiful little neighbourhood beach with a children’s playground and a picnic table. At two lots wide, it has more beach than many of the Beach Access parks in town. Like the Poplar Point Drive Beach Access park, this one has a great view north, up the Lake.
This beach was our last new park of the day, and afterwards we walked back through Jack Brow Park and followed Sunset Drive and Ellis Street to the bus loop where we had started.
Dog Rules: Because this park is substantially a beach, no dogs are allowed here.
Reflections
Hero’s Journey Walks
This adventure was the first on this blog that felt like what I think of as a hero’s journey walk. By travelling from the heart of the city out to a remote, hidden beach, and returning to tell the tale, I was able to apply that powerful narrative paradigm and suffuse my adventure with an underlying sense of significance. Doing this isn’t necessary to enjoy a walk, but I like the way it feels.
Similarly, two other phenomena contributed to the intensity of joy we felt at discovering the wonders of the Poplar Point Drive Beach Access park. Firstly, by walking from Sutherland Bay, and more importantly up a significant hill, to arrive at our destination, we felt a greater sense of accomplishment when we got there than we would have if we had driven. Secondly, because I truly believed we were heading to an undeveloped property, our surprise at finding a marked trail gave added depth to the thrilling feeling of exploring the unknown.
Company
Though I feel it is important for me to let people know about the profound joy of walking alone, it is also a joy to walk with others. It is simply a different kind of joy. Just as the experience of talking or eating or watching a movie changes when you do it alone, in a pair, with only a few, or with many, so does the experience of walking likewise vary.
Today I walked with one other, my wife. Sharing adventures with her is one of the greatest pleasures of my life, and is no less meaningful an experience for me than walking alone. Don’t be afraid to undertake your journeys with as many or as few people as you like or who are willing
Getting to the Walk
Despite the meaningfulness inevitably imparted by a long journey on foot, it is not always necessary or possible to get to your destination on foot alone. Many fascinating places are located more than half-a-day’s walk from your home, and you will occasionally need to take another form of tranport to get to your starting point.
Today, we took the bus to get to the starting point of our adventure, and I expect that bus travel will increasingly be part of getting to and returning from my adventures.
What to Bring
For this adventure, we remembered to bring snacks, and we were glad we did. After reaching the Poplar Point beach, resting and snacking made for an effective punctuation mark. After walking back from Poplar Point Drive to Sutherland Park, our energy was palpably depleted and having a snack gave us the replenishment we needed to continue our journey.
Wildlife
We were rewarded with a few interesting wildlife sightings this adventure. On the trail down to the Poplar Point Drive beach we spied a doe with two spotted fawns. Unfazed by us, they were still munching the leaves of the same fallen tree when we came back up the trail. Once down on the beach, a team of mergansers swam by as we had our rest-stop, and in Jack Brow Park, as I mentioned, we saw a covey of quail, which fled to the safety of a rooftop when we came near.
Park Use
Of the four parks we visited today, only Jack Brow Park was devoid of people. Was that because the other three had beaches, and were, therefore, more popular summer destinations, drawing visitors from outside their local neighbourhoods?
One hundred years ago, Manhattan Point was a place for city-dwellers to have a lakeside cottage to row out to on the weekend, and it still has the vacation home vibe. I wonder how many of the charming homes there are rentals and how many have families with children. Perhaps a relative scarcity of children could account for the absence of people playing at Jack Brow Park. Perhaps it is simply that they are all at the beach and will come back to that park when the weather and the lake cool down.
Conclusions
This was an excellent adventure, and I hope the discovery of the beach on Poplar Point Drive is only the first such discovery I will make as part of the Kelowna Parks Challenge. A three-hour walk with a hill was good practice since I know many more hills are coming.
At this point in the challenge, 3.5% of the year has passed and I have visited 7% of the parks. I feel good about my progress. Hopefully, I can keep this pace up for the rest of the summer, at least.
Please let me know if you have any comments about my trip or how the challenge is going. Do you visit any of today’s parks often? Do you know anything about their history?
