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Date:         Mon, 23 Jul 2012 13:18:12 -0400
Reply-To:     John Meeks <vanagon@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Meeks <vanagon@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Trip report: Back from 2 weeks in southern interior BC,
              Kootenay lakes region.
Comments: To: Poppie Jagersand <poppie.jagersand@yahoo.ca>
In-Reply-To:  <1342891271.76596.YahooMailNeo@web163405.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Thanks Martin. Lots of good information there. There really is a lot to explore in that part of the world. You've given me the travel bug!

John Meeks '91 Vanagon MV Phoenix Northern Michigan

Vanagon Rescue Squad www.vanagonauts.com

On Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 1:21 PM, Poppie Jagersand <poppie.jagersand@yahoo.ca > wrote:

> Hi All, > > The 30 year old Diesel Westy "Poppie" with 2 kids, wife and me made it > home after a trip from Edmonton AB to the southern interior of BC. Went to > the Kootenays region in BC. Had originally aimed to continue also to > Vancouver, but the combination of two young kids and Poppie 30 years old > set a slower pace. That was probably just as good. We had a heat wave with > un-Canadian 30 to 35C temps. Cities were unbearable, but it was nice near > the cold lakes (lots of glacial meltoff runs directly into these). > > The first (and last) night we stayed at the west end of Abraham lake in > AB. This region is called the Kootenay plains though not geographically > related to the Kootenay lake we later went to. (But presumably named by the > Kootenay native tribe). The place is a forestry rec site with no services > and supervision. I have previously had some bad experiences at unsupervised > sites (noise through the night, trash and even gun tooting drunk youth). > Here it was both quiet and remarkably clean. (The only little bit of trash > I saw were 3 cigarette stumps in a fire ring). On the way out we stayed on > a Wed night so I didn't expect partiers. On the way back we stayed on a Fri > night, but despite this it was quiet. There were mostly families like us > there. When I came home I decided to do a bit of research and it turns out > the Alberta government has divided public land into usage zones with > different purposes. Now the OHV crowd can buzz around in areas separate > from those > seeking serenity. > > We continued through Banff, Yohoo and Glacier National parks. Stayed > overnight in Glacier in a typical NP campground. Still snow on the ground > at 1800m and up. First hiking was in the valley between Glacier and > Revelstroke NP's. Took the short walks in the Cedar rainforest and Skunk > cabbage wetland. Managed to get the 3year old to do 1-2km hikes with some > resistance. (the 3mo old is carried, but 14kg of 3year old gets to be too > much to carry for me now). > > Started the drive up to the mountain on the Revelstroke NP parkway. (A > road that doesn't go anywhere except bringing tourists up the mountain w/o > walking). As mentioned in a previous post the alternator bearing seized and > I had to get a new alt the next day. Started the drive up again after alt > replacement. Unfortunately the road was closed due to snow well below the > top, and views from where we had to turn were not that interesting. (IMHO > Manning provincial park to the south west has more interesting views from > their parkway). > > Turned off Trans Canada, Rte 1, onto the more peaceful Rte 23 south into > the Kootenay lakes region. There we stayed several nights at various > lakeside spots. Arrow lake was very cold, but at Blanket creek provincial > park there was a warm pond for the kids to swim in. > > Kaslo municipal campground turned out to be surprisingly nice (better than > the often recommended nearby Mirror lake). It's prettily set with water to > the south and west. Town is a few minutes walk to the north. So the place > has both the serenity of nature and closeness to restaurants, stores and > entertainment. Saw the Moyne, the only survivor of the once numerous > sternwheelers that used to ply the lakes here 100 years ago. > > The towns in this area are worth visiting. Lots of the 100 year old > architecture is still standing in original splendor. Kaslo and New Denver > are small, Nelson is a bit bigger. The lakes are crossed by ferries at > several points. MS Balfour is one of the older still in service. Between > the towns the landscape is remarkably mostly intact. There are occasional > cottages, and homesteads, but not the continuous dotting of lake shores > with vacation homes one see on scenic lakes elsewhere. > > We stayed in Kookanee creek provincial park, one of the most popular in > the region (very nice beach). Last year they had a region of small spots > near the water. Perfect for VW campers (wouldn't fit anything bigger). This > year unfortunately for us they had been redone to regular size RV spots, so > more gravel and less grass around. > > On the eastside of the main arm of Kootenay lake, there are several > lakeside campgrounds marked on our maps along rte 3A. We assumed that > midweek we should easily find a spot. We stopped at several. Unfortunately > they had all been bought out and made into private resorts, so no camping > for us there. Didn't find anything along the whole rte 3A, and it was > getting dark and late. We headed for the Duck lake wildlife management area > in Creston, but the road there was closed due to flooding. Ended up staying > in a pullout along the road, and not exiting the bus due to the many > mosquitos. > > Now it was time to start heading back. Nearly 1000km to go to Edmonton. > Rte 95/93 goes through the rocky mountain trench. The Rockies look pretty > much the same from the west side as from the east (where we live), and both > nature and towns look similar too, so not so much exciting and new. We > stopped at the Lussier hot springs, one of the few still in a natural state > instead of made into a concrete swimmingpool surrounded by a resort. By > accident we ran across the accordion championships in the small alpine town > of Kimberly. > > > When crossing over the Rockies we managed to launch our sailing kayak to > sail the lakes at the headwaters of both Columbia lake west of the > continental divide, and Bow lake at the beginning of the eastern watershed. > These are the beginning of some of the largest river systems on the > continent. From Bow lake the water travels 2600km to Hudson bay on the > Atlantic ocean. From Columbia lake the water travels 2000km, crossing the > US-Canada border 3 times, before exiting in the Pacific. Both headwater > lakes were surprisingly warm. Perhaps especially surprising for Bow lake at > nearly 2000m elevation, where one sees the waterfall tumbling from the Bow > glacier in one end, and the Crowfoot glacier at the other end). However > compared to the large flow in the Arrow and Kootenay lakes (managed as > hydroelectric reservoirs, Columbia and Bow lakes have low flow rates for > their volume so the surface water has time to heat up. > > We made it back last weekend, just before the rain that ended the heat > wave and dumped 50 or more mm of water in Alberta. (flooded some of the > roads so we were lucky to have come home the day before) > > Martin + family and '82 Diesel Westy "Poppie" >


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