Wow! And we thought yesterday was good. Now that we’re back in B.C. the rides just keep getting better. We were told that the Kootenays offered some of the best riding in the Province but I don’t think either of us was prepared for this. 

NMBL and I had the usual casual morning consisting of breakfast, coffee, and a leisurely tear down of our camp. We packed up the bikes and hit the road for another day of fun but relaxed riding. It was that and more! 

We left Wyrie Lake after a very good night’s sleep. Our DutchWare Halfwit hammocks are performing very well for both of us. The Loco Libre under quilts and top quilts are also performing well. Almost too well in fact. I’m finding myself a bit warm in the evenings. It’s not until the air cools down after dark that I get a bit more comfortable.

From Wyrie Lake we planned our ride through Creston and north along the east side of Kootenay Lake to Kootenay Bay. From there it was the ferry across to Balfour and up the west side of the lake to a place called Toad Rock, just south of Ainsworth Hot Springs, where we planned on camping. We wanted to spend two nights at Toad Rock so that we could enjoy Ainsworth and about day’s rest.

Our ride out of Wyrie wound us through the mountains at a nice pace, giving us a chance to carve corners and view the scenery. The Yamaha FZ6’s perform very well on this kind of road. They’re light and nimble with power when needed but geared for touring so they just happily hum along without being twitchy. Just twist the throttle as you come past the apex of a corner and you’re smoothly accelerating off to the next. They make riding fun!

And boy was this day fun! The ride to Creston was nice enough but following the 3A north along Kootenay Lake was a treat. The road winds along the lakeshore snaking its way from Creston, up through Crawford Bay, to the Kootenay Bay ferry terminal. What a wonderful ride! It was better than yesterday’s, if that is even possible. I don’t think there was even a kilometer of straight road that entire portion of the ride. 

We saw loads of other bikers on the route to the ferry And, sure enough, when we got there we weren’t the only ones. Unfortunately we all had to wait a sailing. The boat that was loading wouldn’t take bikes. We were surprised to see that motorcycles do NOT get preferential loading like we do on the coast! 

The bikes all got loaded up on the next boat to Balfour. After disembarking we made our way to Toad Rock Campground, promoted as better than the last ditch we slept in. It’s one of what we found to be quite a number of motorcycle dedicated campgrounds in the Kootenays. Boy is it. We rolled in to see Harleys of all sorts, a workshop with a hoist, and biker paraphernalia galore. Mary, the proprietor, and her partner Grant, have been running this place for years. And this is a busy weekend for them as it is Canada Day. Grant directed us to the Back 40 where there were lots of treed sites for us to choose from, and already lots of neighbours. A group of shovel head riders were already camped in the area. 

This is going to be an interesting two nights.

DES out.