Over the past decade I've been lucky enough to spend a fair bit of time on Knox Mt., located due north of downtown Kelowna, as a good friend resided one block from the Knox Mountain Drive parking lot... very handy!

This familiarity, along with the support and input of MTBco, (Kelowna Mt.Bike Club) and the City of Kelowna staff have allowed me to put together a quality overview of the trails on this height of land.

Click on the above image to enlarge it, then visit the Google Earth section of this site to download, pan / zoom / rotate a file representing this area within Google Earth - I've also created topographic maps of these trails.

IMHO, the most easily understood view of the trails featured on this website are to be grasped by A) downloading and installing Google Earth followed by B) downloading the companion Google Earth files located here. The pan / tilt / zoom capabilities of these files really drive home the lay of the land. This works equally well on iPhones, PCs and Macs.

A tutorial for working with Google Earth is found here.

Knox Mt. Municipal Park is an extremely popular recreational destination for both locals and tourists alike. This is in no small park due to the amazing views afforded from numerous look-offs, the well-maintained trails which circumnavigate the height of land and easy-access via a paved road to the summit.

The popularity of this small, extinct volcano has brought with it a certain amount of user-conflict with regard to trail use / access. While on-site, you will no doubt notice that, in addition to the trails shown here, there exist many additional trails crisscrossing every which way. The goal of the City of Kelowna and local user-groups is to tone down the random trail-building and settle on use / enhancement of only those trails shown in this chapter.

Considering that Knox Mt. Park is comprised of a mere 282 hectares, the number of sanctioned trails and their reach is comprehensive. Knox Mountain Park is a natural setting, consisting of Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir complementing open grasslands. Within the park are numerous plants and animals that are listed as rare or threatened. Terrain is variable, ranging from gently undulating to steep with volcanic soil under-foot.

Knox Mountain Park supports a wide variety of activities, including hiking, running, biking, dog-walking, an annual hot-rod hill climb contest, birding, photography and picnicking. Aside from the aforementioned jaw-dropping vistas, a popular destination is Paul's Tomb; here's a little nugget for ya'

Born in eastern Canada, Rembler Paul was a veterinary surgeon who speculated in mining (coal in Bancroft, silver in Ontario and gold in the Monashees). He also dabbled in Saskatchewan farming ventures as well as real estate in various regions. Rembler moved his family to Kelowna in 1905. He owned land below Knox Mt., and there he built the namesake family tomb in which he and his wife Elizabeth are interred. After the tomb was vandalized, its entry was blocked - only the arched front remains visible. Mrs. Paul's lilacs still bloom in the area.

If you wish to learn all that there is to know about the family and Paul's Tomb, please visit this site.

Low: 342m | High:640m | Length:Varies | Water:Seasonal | Cell Access:Full