Day 5. Kaslo BC to New Denver BC
Stats: 30 mi. AIS: 3:18 min. 9.1 mph. 1837 feet (of elevation gain.)
No big rush to get out of camp due to the shorter mileage today. 9am departure. As soon as we left the little town the road went up vertically for about 2km. I chose to walk it immediately in case I couldn’t make it and would tip over over due to being clipped in to the pedals. Jim went for it and made it! It’s so hard to hit steep hills within about 5 minutes of starting. After that shocking start the constant climb mellowed considerably for the next 18 miles. It was a steady non-strenuous climb following the beautiful Kaslo River all the way.
We stopped at several pullouts to refresh, snack and visit with a couple of people along the way. It was slow but not grueling.
Bridge over the Kaslo River that leads to a trail both up and down river.
The first person we had a short visit with was an older man who was bicycling a very big loop starting in Nelson and returning in the opposite direction we have been traveling. He was riding very lightweight (not like us at all) so I’m not sure if he was riding 1 day or 2 dats. He said he rides this loop often.
The second person was a woman named Amy. She was visiting her favorite swimming hole in the river. We had a chance to visit for awhile. She was originally from Pictou, Nova Scotia. We spent a layover day in Pictou last year and remembered the area well. We had several things in common. She once road from California and rode up the coast through Oregon then to Alberta. She said she was riding against prevailing winds the whole way. Been there, done that once on the Oregon coastline! She couldn’t resist asking about current American politics. Canada is paying attention. I will leave it to say we were likeminded about politics in the USA as well😊.
We seem to meet nice women in Canada named Amy/Aimee! Last year we made friends with Aimee and her family in Quebec City.
Amy gave us some local info about an old growth cedar forest at one of the turnouts. It was a short hike through these giant cedars, hemlocks and spruce. Some are 300-500 years old.
coming up soon
Very special place
After we left the big Cedar Grove we were nearly at the top of the pass. The last few kilometers really ramped up the grade. We had a nice picnic lunch at the top with a small lake.
Our lunch wrap…Beats PB&J when the weathers not too hot all day. It rides in my food pack on the back rack.
We rolled really, really fast downhill the last 10 miles or so into New Denver. Really small town with a pretty little lake. We are camped at the campground in a city park again right on the lake. It’s Friday so the campsites are filling. We booked ahead online. Our neighbor RVs are close. We booked water and electricity so we’re with the RV campers. Nice neighbors on the right and left of course.
Expecting rain tonight and tomorrow. We have a BIG ride tomorrow…60 miles. That’s 6 hours or so of AIS (ass in saddle). Not counting snack breaks, lunch or any other reason to stop. We’re headed to Nelson BC. It’s a much bigger town… probably the biggest. We have a motel and day off on Sunday. We’ve been to Nelson (once) in the winter on a Cinnicrew “powder highway” ski trip in 2017. Lots of shops and restaurants to occupy us…. besides laundry of course!
It’s 7pm and thunder and lightning all around us. A little bit of rain but we’re expecting it to pick up in intensity sometime soon. We are cocooned in our happy place…. our tent…. for the night.
The route we ride tomorrow was closed very recently due to forest fires. It just opened in the last few days. It should smell of smoke and be visually burned I’m expecting. Across the lake from our campground is Valhalla Provinicial Park. It bit has smouldering fires within sight. Similar to the US in National Patks and wilderness they let wildfires burn in their provinicial parks.
The Selkirk Mountains around New Denver are also impressive. We are near a spectacular sawtooth edged mountain named New Denver Glacier. I will try to get a photo tomorrow. I was too busy speeding downhill into town to stop for a picture today.
There is a rail trail we are hoping to jump on tomorrow for 28 miles. The trail today was far too rugged for our bike setup, so we stayed on pavement.
The plan is to get out of here really early. Rain is suppose to start again tomorrow 10am-ish. We’d like to get some miles in before that happens😊
cinnicrew 
so many questions and observations. 1 love that painted the bridge red. 2 the fantastic mural on the aged natural wood siding. 3 the sign to the cedar forest telling you they close the trail when the bears are using fallen old trees as bear dens. Canadians seem to be in touch with Nature more than the USA. They did build the first and very wide and awesome bridge over the highway near Lake Louise.
Question. That hike into the Cedar Forest, did it smell of cedar?
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