Day 4. 8/22/24 Crawford Bay BC
to Kaslo Bc
Stats: 30 mi. 3:33 min. 8.6 mph. 2092 elevation. All totals include 4 mi ferry ride.
Lovely day… lovely day. Up at the usual 6am deciding to get a quick breakfast sandwich and cappuccino at the cafe next to the campground. We were able to store our food items at the campground office overnight (black bears) so we grabbed that and took off at 7:45am to catch the 9am ferry to Balfour. Google maps said steep climb so you’d better believe it! Anyway, arrived with time to spare. Jumped on the longest FREE ferry in BC to the west side of Kootenay Lake to Balfour BC. It’s about 4 miles and 35 minutes. The amazing part of the ferry ride was that it was not windy at all. Some fire hazy skies this morning made for nice silhouettes of the mountains.
mountain scenery
Warning… I have a few videos today if you take the time to watch!
After the ferry we headed north to Kaslo BC. We traveled on the west side of Kootenay Lake today. We had a little better shoulder and not nearly as tight and curvy as yesterday. Again the traffic was light… fairly void of semis but a few attention getting logging trucks. You can hear them coming and you focus intently on riding a straight line! Again though all the traffic was really kind again today!
View of the ferry on its return trip to Kootenay Bay
We had 35 km (22mi) to Ainsworth Hot Springs. Google maps labeled it moderate hills and we climbed nearly the entire way. Very few downhills just slightly less aggressive ups.
The young woman on the ferry alerted us to the reservation system at Aisworth Hot Springs. A system they went to during Covid that apparently works well and keeps the crowds down. I hopped right on the website and booked 11:30. We made it at 11:15 and spent about an hour enjoying our soak.
The remaining 22 km after a soak and lunch was to Kaslo (pronounced Kazlo). The views of the lake and the peaks of the Purcell Mountains took our minds off the continued moderate climbs until a nice descent into Kaslo. We had to stop a few times just to take a climbing break… breathe and drink. Weather was really nice today. Mid 70’s in the afternoon and sunny as you can see.
Unfortunately the wifi isn’t good enough to download my hot springs video of the cave. At the opening of the cave Jim was visiting with a noticeable older gentleman with long white hair. He had a German accent but has lived in BC since the 57 when his parents moved here.
So this guy Fred is from a little town in BC. He’s country music singer but he travels around with bedazzled RV and bedazzled 97 ford mustang. We saw it parked on the road when we were headed up the highway. You can read about him at this site:
https://kootenaymountainculture.com/country-musician-fred-tober-art-van/
After the hot springs we climbed all the way to Kaslo. The climb was broken up by the amazing mountain peaks above the lake. These are all peaks in the Purcell Mountains.
Arrived in Kaslo about 3:30. Our campground is next to a city park right on the lake. Kaslo is about 1000 people big. It relies on tourism in the summer it seems but was built on silver mining that still exists. There’s a very cute thriving Main Street. It’s famous for a steamboat that use to go up and down the lake.
Tomorrow is a short ride to New Denver. About 30 miles. There is a trail we could take but I’m afraid it might be too “mountain bikey” and rough. We will check it out… perhaps. Oh it all uphill again.
cinnicrew 