May 1-3rd, 2004
Total Miles: 1,392.9 miles, 3.5 days
Seattle – Hope – Vernon - Nelson – Seattle
Click map for larger image --->
Day .5 – 251
miles
This was a rather spontaneous ride. I had too much fun last weekend not
to take another long trip and Zarly was going to put his three day weekend
to good use, so I figured that work didn’t really need me Friday
and I lit out for BC right after I clocked out on Thursday. This was a
ground-covering afternoon, where I slabbed it up the I-5, took the cutoff
at Bellingham and crossed the border at Sumas. Zarly met me in Hope so
that we could get a good start to some asphalt eating early the next morning.
Day 1 – 320 miles
Leaving Hope, Zarly and I headed north on the #1 along the Frasier River
Canyon. It was a beautiful day, with blue skies, warm temperatures and
few cars. When we reached Spences Bridge we continued north to Ashcroft
and then slipped back down to Merritt via 97C. The roads were in decent
condition and mostly clean of gravel. Mostly, I say, because we found
just enough to keep us a little spooked in the corners. Our pace was fairly
relaxed and we stopped occasionally to take in the sights and smells (I
love lilacs!) From Merritt we took the #5A north to Kamloops and then
the rather dull #1 east to the #97 turnoff to Vernon. This is a road that
we had intended on riding last fall but it was closed due to the massive
forest fires in the area (but I had ridden it the previous weekend). There
was plenty of evidence to validate just how bad those fires were! We pulled
into Vernon fairly early in the evening, but seeing as there wasn’t
any reliable lodging to be found in the direction of travel for the next
day we opted to stop early and enjoy a good steak dinner. Yum!
We were late in leaving Vernon but still managed to make pretty good time that day. We rode east on #6, which is a fantastic road that starts out in farmland and then travels through miles of forests and alpine views. We ate at a small diner at the pass (Spruce Cove?) which, to give you an idea of how good it was, had homemade bread loaves cooling on the counter and HUGE homemade cinnamon rolls on a pan next to them. Mmmmmm. After lunch we went back out into the sunshine and continued east. The #6 ends (temporarily) at Needles, which really isn’t a place other than a small ferry dock to take vehicles across the Lower Arrow Lake to Fauquier. We had just missed the ferry so we soaked up the sun during the 30 minute wait. Once across the lake we picked up the #6 again and headed north to Nakusp. This is another fine road that follows the contours of the lake and provides some wonderful vistas. At Nakusp we continued on the #6 where it takes a sharp turn inland to the east and climbs the best pavement I’ve ever seen in British Columbia. I’m going to guess that it was about 15 miles of smooth, gently undulating 35mph turns that never really stopped. Unfortunately, those same turns kept going long after some political line was crossed and the other half decided that pavement was not important. The road from Nakusp to New Denver would be pure nirvana if there weren’t chuckholes and ragged crevasses that grab tires in mid-turn during the last 15 or so miles. We did, however, see a good-sized black bear waiting to cross the road.
From New Denver we hopped off the #6 and took the #31A east to Kaslo and then the #31 south to Belfour. At Belfour we waited for the Kootenay ferry to take us across Kootenay Lake and in to Kootenay Bay. Can you guess that we’ve made it to the Kootenays? The ferry was 50 minutes in crossing which went by quickly enough. The ferry left us in Kootenay Bay, which is the starting point of #3A, also known as Destination Highways #1 road in British Columbia. This is an amazing sparsely populated road that hugs the coastline of Kootenay Lake. Fairly good pavement, few cars, excellent views of the Kootenay Mountains across the lake, well-marked corners… it all makes for a deliciously long and entertaining road. But you can read the DH book if you want more information than that…
From the lake we continued south to Creston and then headed west on #3 to Salmo. Salmo Pass was cold but beautiful. The road was surprisingly clean as well. From Salmo we jumped onto #6 (again) and headed north to Nelson. By now we were tired (there were a lot of turns in those 330 miles) and decided to just take the second hotel we could find (the first one was completely unreasonable). It was perfect. Right downtown, an excellent restaurant on the first floor, off street parking and historically appointed rooms made for a solid night’s sleep. Oh, and they even had Sleeman’s Honey Brown Ale, which cured Zarly’s odd “throttle elbow” he developed that day.
It was to be a long day in front of us so we got a fairly early start. It was cool, overcast and eventually rained on us for a short while. No fun detours for us – it was directly to the #3 and head west. Through Grand Forks, Osoyoos, Keremeos, Princeton, Hope and to Abbotsford, where I turned south to Seattle and Zarly stayed west to the Tswassen Ferry to Victoria.