Osoyoos to Fairmont

Distance over last 7 days:  618 km
Total distance: 1050 km

Clouds, rain, thunderstorms, and hail! When I pulled into Princeton, I placed a call to home and pondered on the telephone how much longer the sunny weather would last. The answer - enough to make it to Osoyoos, and not a day longer!

Anarchist mountain, heading east out of Osoyoos, makes for a challenging climb - 30 km of 6% grade, with about 5 km of downhill relief. Near the summit, I got caught in the flash rain with the wrong jacket on my back, which left me pretty wet and cold. To my relief, however, a coffee shop provided shelter and hot food/drink until the rain subsided. It had only been in business for about 3 weeks! Amelio, the operator, gave me the name of the park ranger at Johnstone Creek Provincial Park, which worked to my advantage that night!

Day seven took me through a number of small towns on my way to Christina Lake: Rock Creek, Midway, Curlew (Washington) and Grand Forks. I met up with Dave, and spent two nights at his getaway to rest up. Thanks Dave - I enjoyed the tour of the area, and catching a glimpse of that brown bear was fabulous!

From Christina Lake, I climbed Paulson Summit and descended towards Castlegar, and then Nelson. It was perfect climbing weather - overcast, and not too hot. However, I thought I was having a bad day on the bike: the gradual 4.5% slope and winding road concealed the fact that I was gaining significant altitude over the 30 km of slow pedalling. Too bad about that weather, though... as I started my descent from 1535 m, I was pelted by hail, which soon turned into rain. Never in my life have I wanted a descent to be over so badly! Unfortunately, that would not be the case. An hour later, I was still going downhill, and the windchill had worked into my body. From Castlegar to Nelson, I recovered my body heat with some hill climbing, and the sun made another guest appearance. The hostel I stayed at was great: a full-featured kitchen and barbecue. I took advantage of the nearby grocery store to cook up enough food for two, and promptly devoured it all.

I left Nelson very early in the morning in order to catch a short ferry ride across Kootenay Lake. It was a scenic ride from Kootenay Bay to Creston, but the rolling hills near Creston were challenging. I spent the evening with a fabulous family that I contacted on couchsurfing. Thanks again, Nelson and Nancy, for being such amazing hosts!

Riding from Creston to Cranbrook was easy terrain, and I met some interesting cyclists along the way! I have already met my share of bicycle tourists going one way or another, but Rodger and Soe Naing are the first I have met who are also going west-east across Canada. They are raising money for the Burmese people as they chronicle their travels on their website www.justride2011.com. Once in Cranbrook, I stopped at a bike shop to clean my bike and replace the brake pads, which were nearly expired after a month and half of use. I stayed at Fergus and Andrea's place, where I got pampered like family - thanks, you two! One year old Maisie is adorable, and very bright; I'm sure she'll be a handful (as if she isn't already)!

Today was an amazing ride under sunny skies as I headed to Fairmont. The mountainous landscape around here runs like the imagination of a painter, creating a dreamworld beyond expectations. The painting also includes lots of "happy little trees" (Bob Ross reference). Tonight I am staying with my warmshowers host, Dave, who has a beautiful log cabin by Columbia Lake. We shared cycling stories, and I got some advice for my trek to Alberta.

Tomorrow I'm into the Rockies. I'll find out about the Canucks game in about 3 days, I'm sure!

Looking out over Kootenay Lake from Nelson

View leaving Cranbrook

Not so many happy trees in this photo!