Rattlesnake Island (Okanagan Lake)
Rattlesnake Island is a small island on Okanagan Lake, directly east from Peachland. The land and shore surrounding the island form part of Okanagan Mountain Park. Legend has it that Rattlesnake Island is the home of Ogopogo, the lake's legendary monster.
In the 1970s, the island was developed as a tourist attraction, including a mini-golf course with a replica of the Great Pyramid at Giza and a Giant Camel (confectionary was going to be built on it, but that plan was later abandoned after only one day of business after opposition from the provincial government and others). In 2003, a lightning strike near the island started the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire that burned a large portion of the surrounding park but not the island.
Read more about Rattlesnake Island (Okanagan Lake): History, Folklore
Famous quotes containing the words rattlesnake and/or island:
“When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck to crush him.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the “big canoe” of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosoms the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and the instinctive feeling of love within their breasts is soon converted into the bitterest hate.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)