Crawford Bay

August 2, 2018

A short entry, for a fairly long but not too difficult ride - a sixty mile out and back along the east shore of Kootenay Lake. Quite a pleasant ride, but quite uniform - it ripples along for thirty miles with very little change in net elevation: climb fifty feet, drop down again, repeat thirty times. A good riding day - not too hot, not too windy - but a bit smoky by the end. We kept up a strong, steady pace on the way back - probably the fastest ride we’ve taken on this tour.

We began our ride at Kuskonook, a small development about 15 miles north of Creston.

That’s one! According to my GPS, today’s ride features thirty small rises - about one every two miles. None of them amounts to much, in isolation; but they add up.

For much of the ride, the roadside was lined with chickory.

Chickory, I think? I’ve never taken a close look at this before, but it’s quite a beautiful plant.

Much of the ride was also lined by impressive, colorful rock of varying composition - granite, diorite, gneiss.

Originally intended as a private residence but now a roadside attraction, the Glass House is constructed from about a half million empty embalming fluid bottles.

Kootenay Lake. A bit smoky this morning, and more so as the day wore on.

Northbound on 3A. The road ends at Kootenay Bay, the east side port for the ferry. We’ll turn back today a few miles short of that, at Crawford Bay.

These two grain elevators, built in 1935 and 1936 and out of service for nearly 40 years, are the most impressive features on Creston’s skyline. Two of only four wooden grain towers still standing in BC, they were recently purchased by the Columbia Basin Trust to secure their preservation.

Saint Stephens Presbyterian Church, and Creston’s iconic grain towers.

Wolf Grandmother, one of four sculptures by the Alberta Wheat Pool tower. She represents a figure from a Cree origin myth, and is howling to help establish how large Turtle Island is.

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Ride stats today: 61 miles, 3,300’

Today's ride: 61 miles (98 km)
Total: 1,183 miles (1,904 km)

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Jacquie GaudetLucky you didn't encounter an aggressive deer in your quest for photos. They've been making the news in various parts of BC, including Cranbrook and Creston, in the past few years. http://www.summit107.com/news/east-kootenay-news/aggressive-deer-reported-in-cranbrook-and-kimberley/
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