Ask anyone in the Okanagan about the lake and sooner or later they will mention Ogopogo, the serpent said to live in the deep waters of Okanagan Lake, a legend rooted in the Syilx stories of a lake spirit and kept alive with cheerful enthusiasm by the tourist trade. You are unlikely to see it, but the lake itself, long, narrow and deep blue between dry, pine-covered hills, is worth the trip anyway.
The point lies in the North Okanagan, near Vernon and Armstrong, at the cooler, greener end of the valley. Here the landscape is a mixture of farmland, orchards and forest, with lakes in every direction: Okanagan Lake to the west, Swan Lake to the north and Kalamalka Lake to the south, famous for its colours, which shift from turquoise to deep blue with the light and the depth, caused by limestone particles suspended in the water. The viewpoint above Kalamalka on Highway 97 is one of the best in the region.
The Okanagan is one of the warmest and driest places in Canada, a semi-arid valley where irrigation has created orchards of apples, cherries, peaches and apricots, and, increasingly, vineyards. The wineries further south, around Kelowna, Penticton and Oliver, have made the valley one of Canada's best-known wine regions. Near Vernon, the Historic O'Keefe Ranch preserves the buildings of a cattle ranch founded in the 1860s, a reminder of the valley's ranching past.
For lunch, Vernon has plenty of restaurants and cafés, and the fruit stands along the roads in summer sell cherries, peaches and other fruit straight from the orchards. The roads in the valley are generally good, with Highway 97 carrying most of the traffic. The side roads along the lakes, such as the Westside Road on the western shore of Okanagan Lake, are narrower and more winding, with fine views. Summers are hot and dry, with occasional wildfire smoke, and the lakes are warm enough for swimming. Fuel and services are easy to find.