I don't know if its an old saying on the TDR, but it goes like this: "When in doubt follow the blue line" 

...and you will end up following a river
or if you set your track colour to red or magenta, you might end up following a wrong highway (after that mistake, I went through my Garmin setup and tried to change track and background colours as much as possible to be different, but still have trouble with the blue of creeks looking like the bluegrey of gravel roads. My old GPS Map62 was better for colours and still wish it worked)

Shuswap Okanagan 520 km Bike Pack Loop Test Event July 24, 2020
see http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/ultra-racing/shuswap-okanagan-bikepack-3-overnighter-loops-and-a-multi-day-loop/

Update Nov 19 2019
Proposed group ride or unofficial unofficial Grand Depart for those that want to try for the first Fastest Known Time
further details coming

Well if I had left on Oct 22 as I plan to next year, I would hope to be north of Flagstaff by now.
I see the current weather report (cold), but what does it look like on the ground?
Everything covered in frost until noon?  
Areas of mud from melting frost?
Rock hard ground and really fast conditions?
How much snow?
Switch to winter boots and clothes at Flagstaff or Pine?

Updated Oct 18 2019

More looking to do something that is part of the solution
rather than my making facetious comments and/or avoiding the homeless.
But really something to do outside of bikepacking.

Just wondering if any bikepacker has been confused by others as being one of the homeless.

[2020 July 509 km loop]

Anyone interested in a Grand Depart for 2023?  
There is still a delay to officially use the rail trail from Sicamous to Rosemund Lake
Other sections of the trail were in great shape in 2022

This post will be used as a place holder and be updated as the links get fixed.
Also the routes will always be changing, as reroutes are required due to some trails becoming decommissioned as others open up, or due to construction.
If you have suggestions, I will give them a try.
The original post was here http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/ultra-racing/shuswap-okanagan-divide-planning-stage/

2020 July 509 km loop
 https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/planner/view/127966/
2020 Ridewithgps version
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33255463

Have now rode 100% of the route, but not all in the same ride.  Section ride not Thru ride.
I found an easier way to the summit of Little White mountain without having to do much bushwhacking or hike a bike.  Removed some singletrack that didn't add much value (fun) to make the route easier to follow .
But as of yesterday, there are a lot more fallen trees across the trail and with late snow melt it is much wetter and buggier.  Should be better by late July.

My goals for these routes are:
- To find the most fun singletrack to ride with a lightly loaded bikepack Mountain Bike (Dual suspension, dropper posts and proper knobbies will make it a lot more fun).  
- To be 99% rideable for those with amateur expert level skills and fitness (That is still 5 km of hike a bike for 99% rideable or 50 km of hike a bike for 90% rideable. Also if you are an old enough Canadian to remember that Participaction TV ad back in the 1970s "The average 60 year Swede is fitter than the average 30 year old Canadian", based on that, I am issuing a new challenge along that line "That a 60 year old BCXC/Down Country rider, can ride more [as in clean trials style] than the average 30 year old gravel grinder")
- Easily accessible food resupply. Also high quality nutrition with organic grocery stores, fruit stands, craft brew pubs and cool cafes, and no gas station convenience stores (not that there is anything wrong with them)
- Wilderness camping at official forestry rec sites or cool view points, and frequent access to beaches with good swimming (at least in summer).  Also the ability to go really light, and hit motels or BnBs every night (that facetious challenge I issued above, might not be that mean after all).


I am not sure what the Regional District has in plan for the rail trail between Sicamous and Rosemond Lake for 2022 or later, so even though it's a decommissioned rail bed, it is not officially open, and is considered a social trail. When or if construction does begin, it could be closed at times. Although a multi-use trail is planned, the rail bed is perfect for mtn biking right now (at least with mtn bike tires).  So some riding on the highway might be required to get from Sicamous to Rosemond Lake or Grindrod if you are unwilling to ride social trails (the organic diary farmer with the land adjacent to a crucial bridge is ok with bicycles using the rail bed, and the real issue is 4x4s and motos).

The following are overnighter or short loops/sections (although small route changes made to the above 2020 July track, such as at Postill Lake, Hwy 33 and logging road to Little White have not been updated):

Salmon Arm, Larch Hills Traverse, Sicamous, Rosemond Lake, South Canoe, Salmon Arm 100 km loop
https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/planner/view/82389
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/41100603

Photos
https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AD9MXSCY4i0UcDg&id=7434FA0FD95140BC%211070&cid=7434FA0FD95140BC

Vernon, Kalamalka, Okanagan High Rim, Kelowna, Lake Country, Vernon 165 km loop
https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/planner/view/82390
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/41100626

Photos
https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArxAUdkP-jR0iC8lBDQial2Ir4tc?e=G4vZSd

The Okanagan High Rim Trail has a bad reputation for riding difficulty, but I have tested reroutes to avoid the more unrideable sections (the ravines into Kelowna and Vernon creeks and the associated washed out bridges).  Trail reroutes are currently under construction as of June 2020 through the burned out slash at the bottom of Cardiac Hill just before Highway 33 so there is a straight line on my gps track with I anticipate a big improvement (route finding should be easy or just take the gravel road out if you have trouble). The Mission Creek level has been too high and dangerous (for me, or for me to suggest other people should try it) to cross 4 out of 4 times that I have been on this route, so there will be no plan to continue from Highway 33 to Hydraulic Lake and the Kettle Valley Rail Trail using the High Rim Trail (I did ride up 17 km of Highway 33 to connect to Hydraulic Lake, but I am choosing a route to hit both the Myra Canyon Trestles and the summit of Little White mountain because they are two highlights you don't want to miss, although, if Little White has snow then I suggest just doing Myra Canyon southwards to the Crawford Canyon downhill trails and skipping two big climbs)
As mentioned above, there is a major reroute off the Okanagan High Rim trail by Kelowna and Vernon Creeks, but you get to resupply at the Beaver Lake Resort with junk food, or buy freshly made waffles (at least you could in 2019).
One major difficulty is that when the grass is high, it is hard to see the trail (black diamond if you are breaking trail, and blue to green if you are following a beaten in trail - I am hoping more people will think this stuff might be fun).  Mosquitoes can be bad until later in the summer as it gets closer to forest fire season, so late July or mid September are the recommended times to try the route.

Kelowna, Myra Canyon, Little White, Crawford Canyon, Okanagan Lake, Kelowna 80 km Beach to Alpine Loop
https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/planner/view/82391
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/41100644

Kelowna, Myra Canyon, Crawford Canyon, Okanagan Lake, Kelowna 75 km Winter Overnighter Loop
https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/planner/view/92811/
Not a full fat bike route, just one stomach flu away from target weight biking, or I'll be race weight by spring biking loop,
use June Springs/Little White Forest Service Road if the snow is too deep for the climb up Myra Bailout Trail

Photos.
https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21APqzoliHX%5FbBgro&id=7434FA0FD95140BC%211072&cid=7434FA0FD95140BC

The Okanagan High Rim Trail through the alpine is nearly non existent.  The cairns have fallen down over time, flagging blown away or faded, and previous tracks overgrown in grass (it basically becomes a choose your own adventure to find a way through all the cliff bands). Maybe as this route becomes more popular, more of the Rim Trail will be added to extend to Naramata.

2022 or later? The Whole Works 504 km loop, after completion of the Armstrong Sicamous Rail Trail
 https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/planner/view/82387 https://ridewithgps.com/trips/41100661

With the exception of Sicamous to Rosemond Lake, the Armstrong Sicamous Rail Trail is now badly overgrown, but after the completion of a multi-use rail trail, there will be less paved road to link the Shuswap to the Okanagan

Photos for the valley link between the Shuswap and the Okanagan.
https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AFlApGAlAu6KNEI&id=7434FA0FD95140BC%211073&cid=7434FA0FD95140BC

Jennifer scratched too and Chris heading northwards from Phoenix . 
What is happening out there?

Anyone having more trouble stealth camping and being confused with the homeless?
Such as do you have to go even further before you can camp, try to blend in, or try to look clean and straight?
I have been revising my planned Shuswap Okanagan Bikepack Loop to avoid homeless camps.
Some remind me of the outside area of a dragon's den with scraps of knights' armour and bones scattered all over (with the carcasses of stolen bikes scattered across the trail)

Oh well, very privileged First World problem (we live like homeless or fleeing refugees for the fun of it)

steel handlebars with no bar end caps so that you can use them like an ice axe if you get blown over on ice

I will try and write a quick summary of our adventure soon.

Congratulations. 
Looking forward to the write up

https://mtbapp.co.za/silk-road-mountain-bike-race-2019/

Expanding on my edit above:

Re: Daylight hours in April vs. Oct.

Looking at daylight times for Phoenix at timeanddate.com:

April 20, 2019 = 13:10 [hr:min] of daylight.
October 20, 2019 = 11:12 [hr:min]... almost two hours less daylight.

Re: Heat in April vs. Oct.

Daytime temps could very similar, depending on the year and luck of the draw with a late spring storm or early winter storm, but nighttime temps would almost certainly be cooler in Oct., due to longer night to allow additional cooling. First time I did the AZT 300 [2014], an above average year [?], Tuscon hit ~100 and it was 92 when I pedaled thru Patagonia.

starting October 10 would get almost 30 minutes more daylight for a compromise

Aaron, aren't you supposed to be doing the Colorado Trail Race now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1EXq55dGJQ

Did vimeo think the music was illegal or something?

You'll still be asked doing an ITT. There's hardly anyone out there, so it is not like a hassel. I was out there for a lot longer than most as I did 25 days - the only day I met a lot of people was into Wamsutter, but it was so hot and I looked so dead that people stopping were just concerned. Must have had like 5 pickups stop. I personally found those random interactions with random people - roading contruction workers, ranchers, mom's picking up kids from school  - to be really interesting.

Since the Tour Divide doesn't route through a heavily populated pedestrian trail, interruptions would not be so concentrated, and if you are pedaling you don't have to stop, it would be up to visitors or fans to keep up

With all the debate online about visitation, film crews and real life spectating, made me think that maybe the racers are getting tired of the interruptions by people wanting to interact with them.
I know I was frustrated with repeatedly having to re-explain myself hiking through the Grand Canyon

Probably not
Not unless it is preventing them from catching the racer ahead

20/25/30 day green flags are up.  This year they are computed on average speed instead of taking representative historical data.

So... that means they never lag, but they also... never stop!  Not to sleep, eat, etc. 

Made me think of Steven Kings's Tommyknockers

bikepack seat bag works better for narrow singletrack and hike a bike

Dave Barter's call in is hilarious, he's normally so grumpy!

:-)