We have continued our Mountain Adventure, but without wifi, 2 weeks on the road, tends to chew up data so I’ve been quiet for the last couple of days! But all is well now and I can share photos again, even it takes a while to upload!

We loved staying in New Denver. The weather was very summery (hot) but we were comfortable in our shaded site, which kept the van nice and cool. On Friday we had another multi-sport day. We paddled from the campsite, along the lake’s edge, admiring the mountains that were a little more visible at this part of the lake. Slocan Lake is narrow and long, so it was fun to see another part of it. We liked paddling in the morning because there are no winds, but by early afternoon the katabatic winds start to blow, and by late afternoon it gets quite windy on the lake (and our campsite). So paddling on smooth water, watching reflections and the mountains was great.

In the afternoon we decided to bike a rail trail. This area experienced a brief silver mining boom in the early 1900’s. With the trains gone, the rail lines have been converted to great hiking and biking trails. This trail was more of hiking trail, single track in some areas. But it was mostly shaded, which helped on a 32C day. The stretches on the side of a cliff down to the river added some excitement, but it was fun riding. A new experience was the cable car across the river, necessary because the rail bridge was destroyed, the remains of which were visible on the banks. Just on the other side there are rusted remains of the Alamo Siding which loaded rail cars and housed about 500 people. The steep hillside was littered with rusted remains of pipes and machinery.

We hoped to make it to Sandon, now a ghost town, but we didn’t get on the right trail. Rather than ride the trail back, we decided to ride the road, which would be mostly downhill. After a brief climb, we had wonderful views of the mountains that we could just see peaks of on our paddle. Being 250+m higher, provided a much different view. The ride down was fast and exhilarating. We enjoyed the scenery and the breeze!

Yesterday was another driving day from New Denver to E.C. Manning Park in the Southern part of BC. It was another beautiful driving day, albeit very different from the other driving days. There were no tall snowcapped mountains, but a lot of varied terrain. We drove up and down a couple ‘mountains’ (larger than a hill, smaller than a Rocky Mountain) in the Okanagan Range. Many places looked like some of the Mediterranean countries we have been to: hilly and dry with all shades of brown. But when you see the irrigated valleys with vineyards, the bright greens contrast strongly and provide an interesting landscape. One climb up to “Anarchist Pass” brought us to a spectacular viewpoint over the town and lake of Ossoyos. The winding road back down brought us through the town, full of summer vacationers and numerous fruit stands, all claiming to have local B.C. fruit.

We really enjoyed the rest of the drive, but by the time we got to our campisite, skies had clouded over, and the temperature had dropped to 13C; it felt very chilly compared to the hot summer weather we had enjoyed for so long. It was Definitely was a fire-pit-in-the-shelter evening. Bill, however, was determined to eat his ice cream.

Overnight we had big thunderstorms and we woke up to rain and clouds down to tree level. We are chilling (literally) in the campsite until this afternoon, when we hope it will clear and warm up a bit, as the weatherman has promised, and we will do something fun!