Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/170490
outdoor adventure Knox Mountain Park K elowna must translate to "Land of the Fit Seniors," I decide, watching the legs of grey-haired and Spandexed locals scissoring up the trails of the 310-hectare Knox Mountain Park. In a perfect world, every community would have a real (rather than metaphorical) mountain to climb within easy distance of the town centre so visitors and locals could gain a fresh perspective. There's a grab bag of trails at Knox to choose from depending on your time and ability, and mountain bikers, runners, and dog walkers all share the trail. A 15-minute climb brings us to a second parking area with information kiosks on local history. I read about the influence of the Kelowna Land 52 B r itish C olumbia Magazine • fa ll 2013 and Orchard Company, the devastating summer fires of 2003 when Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park burned, and the lore of Ogopogo, or Nhaatik, the demon of the lake. There are jaw-dropping views of the city and of Okanagan Lake. The panorama includes a planer mill, houseboats, and the William R. Bennett Bridge that connects Kelowna and West Kelowna—showing the area at work and play. We take the Apex Trail the rest of the way to the top, walking through rabbit brush and arrowleaf balsamroot, the official flower of Kelowna—a name actually derived from the Okanagan word for grizzly bear. Birds the size of my thumb flit through the ponderosa pines, evading