The Glass House, The Kootenays

The road from Kimberley to Kootenay Bay is amazing with gentle twisties and very little traffic, perfect for me. We stopped to see the glass house which was built with 600000 embalming fluid bottles.  Well worth the short stop, very interesting and with a great view of the lake.

Toad Rock, The Kootenays

On the ferry to Kootany Bay we met Olav and Reg two biking Lutheran pastors and great guys. They are also staying at Toad Rock so we met up for dinner a couple of times and they were great company. Such nice, friendly guys with some great stories. Definitely not the stereotype pastors which were a joy to find, just real, down to earth people. I may not be religious but when you meet people like this who live their faith it’s certainly restores your trust in humanity and in this case the clergy. Sometimes when I travel, I meet people who I wish lived in the same country as me and Olav and Reg are those people, I hope our paths cross again in the future. Reg is also a member (and past president) of the Guardians of the children group, one of the biker groups that help abused children including supporting them in court. Such an amazing calling.

I’m not 100% sure how to describe Toad Rock Motorcycle campsite. It is the most unique place I have ever stayed. Every campsite I’ve been in has been friendly, and when you see bikers in a campsite you always chat and most people are really nice. As Toad rock is all bikers you take these friendly camping encounters and amplify them 10x, that is toad rock. It is also a little crazy and fun. You don’t walk past a single person without getting a ‘’Hi, how’s it going, where you off to, where are you from, what you riding etc’’ and it does not matter where you are from, how old you are or what you ride. Throw in a few funny characters and friendly dogs and you can’t help but fall in love with this place.  I can understand why so many people come back year after year.

28^th Sandon, The Kootenays

Initially Joern and I decided to take a day off the bikes, do our laundry, catch up on downloading photos and just chilling. However after being told about Sandon we decided to take a ride out. At which time I discovered that when a Canadian says ‘’it’s just up the road’’ they mean its 70kms up the road not the 20 I’d estimated. However the road was just perfect, beautiful twisites with NO traffic and I just got into the zone and loved it, that feeling where you are just flowing.

Sandon is an old silver mining town which got washed away in a big flood in the fifties and is now just a ghost town with a couple of museums. It houses the oldest power generator still in use in Canada. It is driven by hydro power from the river flowing right under the building and generates 150KW. It looks and sounds like something you would expect to find on the Nautilus and was designed by Nikola Tesla himself. It was installed in 1902. The old power and voltage meters are still there and it is not housed meaning all the mechanics with bearings and all are exposed. It is like a living thing and an absolute joy to see if you are just a little interested in mechanics, as Joern is.

Not much left of the town today.

29^th Kaslo, The Kootenays

Another relaxing day. Today we went to the Ainsworth hot springs which were great. The hot springs are in a small cave in the shape of a horse shoe which you walk through. It’s dimly lit but light enough. Now I really mean a small cave and yet going in is so out of my comfort zone, as I do not like small dark places, but I did it. I also did the freezing ice-cold plunge pool afterwards and like the cave once you’ve done it two or three times it gets a lot easier.

After that we went to Kato for lunch and a really super nice hike along the river. We got caught in the rain and soaked through, but after the hot weather we’ve had for the last couple of days it was very refreshing. The hike was great though and we got to see the Koots a series of fun sculptures hidden in the woods, but still no bears.

Joern making contact with the Koots

Kaslo is home of the S.S. Moyie the oldest intact passenger steam ship launched in 1898, but sadly under renovation so we were unable to go aboard. We did however take an interesting stroll around the cute town and met a few friendly people and dogs. We also came across the most unique car ornaments I have or probably will ever see. Kudos to the owner, clearly a star wars fan.

I’m really loving this place and it’s friendly people. I just don’t want to leave but there is so much more of BC to see that once again it’s time to move on. Kaslo is now the 2nd town in BC that I could move too in a heartbeat, Kimberley being the first.