September 18, 2023
Day 2
Summit Lake to New Denver
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We woke up early (for us) at 7:00 am and ate a cold breakfast. We were eager to begin this adventure. Well, one of us was anyway. Louise was a bit hesitant and proffered a wide range of alternate ways we could spend the next few weeks.
Modern provincial campgrounds cater to modern travellers - ie one or two people in a truck the size of an ore-carrier, towing a small apartment building. A few years ago, the preferred mode was bungalow-sized campers mounted on enormous trucks, but today’s traveller is not about to endure such hardship. Obviously, tents aren't even a rumour anymore.
One consequence of the devolution to mobile mansions is that the campsites are made with crushed gravel, to support the enormous loads. Troglodytes that still use tents (like us), have to be careful. The gravel is as sharp as crushed glass and slices up the floors of hiking tents. We discovered this the hard way, and resolved to buy a blue fibreglass tarp at the next town, to use as a groundsheet.
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One can’t help but wonder what our ancestors would have made of this.Consider, for example, this typical 1800s building at one of the old train stations (no longer in use).
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The trail started out quite narrow and bushy, but still easy to travel single file.
Then it got quite narrow and steep. Beavers had flooded the normal route, so we had to follow a single-track detour.
After a few falls, Louise chose to walk her bike through this part.
It was only a few km long.
Then we travelled along the edge of Slocan Lake, never gaining or losing any altitude.
At one point we found an old tunnel that extended about 10m into the rock - probably an old silver mineshaft.
Eventually, we reached New Denver and setup camp on a huge beautiful lawn, at the edge of Slocan Lake, with a view of the Valhalla mountains on the other side. We were the only tent, as usual. Meanwhile, in a similar-sized gravel lot nearby, there were at least a dozen huge trailers and buses, crammed in about one metre apart.
We visited a Japanese Reflection Garden, next to the campsite. It is a beautiful garden full of ornamental trees and fountains. It is especially enjoyed by families of bears that regularly visit to pillage and plunder the nuts and fruit. There were none when we visited, but a sow and two cubs showed up the next day, and spent the afternoon climbing about (and smashing) the carefully cultivated trees, like huge black bulls in a delicate china shop.
New Denver is a tourist town. The (only) superstore sells little but chips and pop. Almost all stores are closed on Sundays, and many (including the liquor store!) are closed on Mondays too. Nonetheless, we made do with rice and beans, and watched a beautiful sunset marked by black threatening clouds. It might rain a bit tomorrow, we told each other, as we retired to our luxurious beds.
Tomorrow came early, about 2:00 am, when a massive rainstorm broke. We had become complacent living in Kamloops desert, so we hadn't storm-proofed our camp like we usually do in the Coast Mountains.
Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 55 km (34 miles)
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