July 27, 2007
Day 28: To Whiteswan Provincial Park
I got away from the buggy riverside campsite at 10 after spending some time to re-tension my seat mesh. I had a headwind while going south, keeping me cool but also slowing me down.
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Most of the time the road is well away from the river. The Columbia river turned into Columbia lake. I didn't see any public access to the lake. It was all fenced private property.
I ate lunch at the cafe in Canal Flats, an ugly sawmill area. South of town the road crosses the Kootenay river, then another 5km to the turnoff for Whiteswan Lake Provincial Park. I turned onto the gravel road to the park. 17.5 km of uphill gravel to the hot spring. The road is well graded and well packed. Not too bad except that the road is on a hot shadeless south-facing slope.
I took a short stop at Lussier hot spring to take a few pictures. The road is 30m above the riverside hot spring. You have to walk 5 minutes down a gently graded trail to get to the hot spring. The area is clearly set up to accommodate large crowds.
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Then I continued another 5km uphill to the Alces lake campground, arriving at 3PM. I set up camp, filled my water sack and put it in the sun, then walked around and swam in the lake. Later I had a warm homebrew shower.
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I met a fellow solo camper named Sherrill, from Saskatchewan. She gave me a ride to the hot spring. We soaked at the hot spring for a couple hours, together with many other folks. The setting was delightful in the cool evening, watching the sunset. The two main soaking pools were too hot for me to stay in very long. I preferred the lower pool that mixed with the river. At about 10PM we returned to the campground and made dinner together.
Today was a warm sunny day with a high temperature of about 28C (84F). But it was hot during the shadeless early afternoon climb to the park. Horseflies were a nuisance at the campground during the heat of the afternoon. But mosquitoes weren't much of a problem even at dusk. The riding was very easy today. Short distance and minimal climbing. Call it a rest day...
Distance: 50 km / 31.3 mi
Climbing: 400 m / 1320 ft
Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 2,259 km (1,403 miles)
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