Selkirk Tour - Day 4 (Kaslo, British Columbia)

Today was a short day of riding (about 28 miles) but featured a lot of climbing. I had major hill (some around 7-9% grade) after major hill. Fortunately what went up usually went down and similar to yesterday I ended up aroud the same elevation as when I started. Upgrading to a motel room last night versus the tent site was a good idea. Around 5 a.m. the skies opened up and there was thunder, lightning and heavy rain until about 8:00 a.m. I slept really well so it was good to wake up with some energy. The one cool thing about the rain storms here is how it looks afterwards. The clouds hang really low off the montains and so it is a pretty spectacular view. Here's what it looked like outside my door this morning.

I had about 7 kilometers to ride to the ferry to get across the lake. The Kootenay Lake ferry runs all day from 7 a.m. until about 10:00 p.m. It's the longest free ferry ride in the world and in the summer they have to add a second boat to keep up with the demand and traffic. I was on the newer boat and people can roll their cars directly on the ferry. You see everything. Cars, RVs, motorcycles, trailers, etc. It's a pretty impressive system they have to get everyone on and off. After the ferry, I was treated to a massive climb out of Balfour (where the ferry ended) and kept going up and down. I stopped at Ainsworth Hot Springs along the way and soaked in the hot springs pool for a while and then ate lunch there and was off. Overall it was a really good day. The rain during the day held off again (gotten really lucky two days in a row) and it was around 65-70 degrees the entire day.

Here's my route today:

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That's the entrance to the ferry with the boat coming in.

That photo and the next few were taken while on the ferry.

That was the end of the ferry this morning and as I mentioned earlier had to climb some hills the rest of the day. Scenery was incredible though. Followed the lake edge the entire day. Yesterday I was on the east edge of the shore but today I moved over to the west.

Not long after that photo I came up on Ainsworth Hot Springs. It's a higher end resort but you can also just show up and soak in the pool which is what the majority of the people there do. What's interesting about this one is you can walk through a cave too. The cave is natural and where the springs come from and it flows down into the pool. The water in the pool is around 100 degrees but inside the cave it is about 115. Because of the humidity (the ceilings are probably only six and a half feet high) and the heat of the water you're only supposed to be in for 10-15 minutes. Really neat though.

From there I had to climb some hills and then came into Kaslo.

I'm off to Slocan tomorrow. I'm heading west over to New Denver and then will head south to Slocan and be right next to Slocan Lake. It will be a long day of riding. I have about 50 miles and 4,500-5,000 feet of climb. Should be quite the day!

 

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