Summit Creek camp to Happy Hans in Kimberly

Near Cranbrook BC

Fathers day. Cath presented gifts from the girls, and then we went and called them. It’s hot and humid in Ontario, about 29C/84F in the house. We were wearing heavy clothes where we are.

    Heather was accepted to Carleton University, with a $1000 scholarship!

After bfast (with a hummingbird attending) we took a good hour hike along the side of a ridge (part of the Dewdney Trail), with a view out over the marshes. Saw lots of fresh tracks - elk, wolf, and maybe bear. We whistled a lot, and set our alarm off several times, just in case.

 
Then we went for a drive up 3A to Kootenay Bay, and took North America’s longest free ferry to the other side of Kootenay Lake, over to Nelson. Saw more deer along the road. It’s a gorgeous sunny day. Still lots of snow up in the mountains though.

 
On the ferry we were the second car from the front, and had a lovely snow-capped mountain view (the couple in front of us weren’t interested in the view though!). We also saw an Osprey nest right in the harbour, complete with brooding Osprey. The ferry ride was at least 30 minutes long, a nice break from driving.

Waiting for the ferry to arrive

Nelson is a bigger more prosperous-looking town than Trail. We looped around and across the Kootenay Pass again - this time in sunshine. Saw several more deer, and gorgeous views we couldn’t see yesterday because of the rain.

 
Creston looked like a nice area too - hills on both sides, orchards and dikes, marshy flat lands. On to the Kimberly area. 

As we were coming in to Cranbrook there was a whole range of snow-packed peaks - very high, jagged, rocky mountains. 

 

Stopped in Cranbrook at a Bonanza for all-you-can-eat salad bar and other food - good! Camped at Happy Hans in Kimberly. Nice place, free showers, big sites, big mosquitoes, and a good night’s sleep.