Super Side Track

We checked out the town of Rossland the next morning, which in itself wasn’t that exciting but Red Mountain nearby was definitely really nice. Once we were on the road past Rossland, it was officially labeled as the "BC Super Side Track" on all the government signs, which we though was pretty awesome since that pretty muchs sums up the whole trip. We set up camp in Kootenay Creek Provincial Park that afternoon, learning that it was probably best to set up early and then explore since the area was so busy. And wouldn’t you know it, we had to camp in the “overflow”, which is really just a nice way of saying “extra-parking-lot-where-you-can-set-up-your-tent-in-the-grass-beside-the-pavement”. It was literally one parking spot per tent, but at least we were right beside the beach and had a place to lay our heads!
After a swim we went and checked out Nelson, which was an absolutely awesome town. It was as hippy-ish as we had heard, and the whole area was so laid back. It was built around the lake on a slope, so even its look was cool. We toured around for a bit before heading back to camp, where after a pasta dinner Chris pulled out his telescope and hung out on the beach looking at the very bright moon and stars. After showers the next morning we went to Revelstoke, where we set up at Martha Creek Provincial Park, which felt appropriate, and then went to the town to look around. It was another really amazing town, which had a great main street that felt small town-ish while still having all the shops necessary. It was gorgeous. That night back at the campsite we watched a really wild storm head our way overt the mountains and lake, and then the wind got so intense that at the exact same time as our neighbour’s (unattended!!) fire started spraying huge sparks all over our tent, our tarp got ripped up and half of it went straight into the air like a huge wind sail. Luckily nothing caught fire and after a bit of a struggle we got the tarp down and into the car. The light on the rain even made it look like a funnel cloud was headed our way for a bit, but in fact we only got about 45 minutes in total of the storm; across the lake had it was worse and we even heard trees falling from all the lightning.
The next morning we headed north to Yoho National Park, where we checked out a ‘bridge’ made from water pounding against rock until it caved at the bottom, leaving a bridge of rock across the powerful waterfall. We also did a 5.5 km walk around Emerald Lake, where we got to see the cabins Katie stayed in years ago and also the rock where she and the family jumped into the near freezing glacial lake! It was a beautiful walk, and the lake is true to its name – its colour made us keep stopping and staring it was so memorizing, We also practically walked right into a deer who obviously didn’t care at all that we were around – she just kept on munching away beside her perfect lake.
We had the strangest wake-up call yet this trip the next morning. Katie woke up to a lady in the neighbouring campsite saying there was a bear nearby, and then suddenly they were banging pots and pans and shouting that it wasn’t in their site anymore, “it’s in the one beside us, right between their tent and their car!!” whaaaaat? Chris woke to “Chris Chris there is a BEAR in our CAMPSITE!”, but by the time we got to the tent window to see it was already gone. Apparently it had spent some time sniffing around our car and grunting about, and then decided there was nothing good around and moved on. Closest call with a bear yet, and we didn’t even get to see it! Since we were up, we packed up and headed out to Golden. We found out that BC has their own version of “Provincial Recreation Areas”, which are owned by the Ministry of Forests. Basically, since logging is such a huge thing around here, and they have to make roads to log, they make use of the otherwise abandoned roads to create small camping areas – 5-15 sites with an outhouse – that are far away from civilization and (our favourite part) free! So we set up at Waitabit Creek about half an hour from Golden, right on the water. We spent the first part of the evening at a wolf sanctuary, where we even got to howl with the wolves and learn a lot about them. That night we met up with a friend from home, Doug, who showed us a local bar where we had a beer and enjoyed some live music before heading back to our site. Golden: another amazing relaxed BC town – this isn’t going to be easy!
We've also had a lot of fun checking out the "runaway lanes" all over the BC roads ... with all of the steep grades and so many trucks coming through the province, they have developed "brake check" areas at the top of huge hills, followed by the runaway lanes along the hill itself which are literally just lanes that veer off the road and smack into the forest beside it for cars with failed brakes. The weirdest one we saw was a lane that veered off the road, only to join back up with it 100 metres later! So basically you get a moment away from traffic until your car has to zoom back into it uncontrollably. How bizarre.
On Friday morning we got up nice and early and headed west again. After getting an oil change (we have now put 15,000 km on the Maz this trip!), gas, and groceries, we went a couple hundred kilometres north of Revelstoke to one of the Forestry Service campgrounds, with the intention of getting as far away from long weekend craziness as we could. Mission accomplished – we went to Sprague Bay, at the very end of the road and 15 km on a dirt one, where there were about 8 sites and we were set up on a hill above the lake, surrounded by rolling hills and mountains. We spent the next two days doing nothing but relaxing in the sun (at our own private “beach” of smooth sloping rock), swimming, playing scrabble, watching the hummingbirds that were everywhere, sitting by the fire, reading, and enjoying the peace and quiet of our long weekend away from the long weekenders. Aside from our cooler spoiling our milk and our neighbour who watched loud movies in his RV, we were in heaven. If there is nothing else to love BC for (and oh, there is), we have fallen in love with the Forestry Service camping!