Kootenay Bay

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Day 9. Ride day.

The wifi here seems to get overwhelmed in the evening and I couldn’t get yesterday’s post uploaded before I went to bed. I woke up at 1:00 am and had internet service but couldn’t log on to this site. When I woke up about 4:00 I tried it again and it worked but must have taken a half hour with all the photos. Luckily I slept till 8:20 which is unusual but I’m happy for it.

Bacon and eggs were on my mind and then in my stomach before heading out on the bike. I had a route laid out last evening and programmed the GPS but then this morning decided maybe it was a bit ambitious for the first ride so I picked Kootenay Bay knowing I’d have to backtrack the same roads since it ends at the ferry dock. The timing was good with the ferry arriving 10 minutes after I got there but then the loop back to camp from the other side of the lake was about two hours longer and it was already going to be 5:00 when I got home so I got an ice cream and watched the ferry leave before heading back. I may try it another day if I get an earlier start. The last quarter or third of the ride was along side Kootenay Lake is beautiful. Not just the mountains across the lake but the road too. Winding along between the water and the hillside with elevation changes and a good piece of it brand new asphalt made for a great day. Sadly though I could see a forest fire on a hillside across the lake. In the morning it appeared like about four separate columns of smoke rising but by the time I came back the whole area was full of smoke. Maybe that was just the wind swirling the smoke but I suppose that would spread the flames too. The furthest mountain range I can see from my campsite is very hazy tonight too and the people camped next to me think it’s from the fires in Alberta.

The total ride was 395Km over about seven hours including a stop at Walmart on the way back for a few groceries and a piece of coaxial cable to connect my TV to the cable here at the park. I’ve never camped anywhere with cable available so even though I have lots of coax of various lengths I never thought to bring one. It’s frustrating to buy something I have at home but again I only have myself to blame because I’m sure the details of this park on their website say cable is included.

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