It was time for me to cross the Canada – USA border and head for familiar grounds. My plan was to visit Kootenay Lake for a while – it is an old familiar spot I have been to many times. I was doing my usual wait for the weather to improve enough east of the Rocky Mountains before I went to visit friends and take care of business. But first, a border crossing!
Kootenay River at Bonners Ferry
I was on the 395 / Interstate 90, passing through Spokane. While I had not traveled every bit of the 395 that I could, I had stayed close to it the whole way up from Barstow. It had been a scenic drive – I would recommend traveling this way if you want to see the backside of the Sierras and the Coastal Range travelling north – south in the USA. But at Spokane, I was leaving the 395 to head northeast a bit, heading into the Idaho panhandle. I find this area to be pretty much like the Kootenays to the north, which makes sense as it is the same general valleys not too much further south. I stopped for one last cheap gas top up in Bonners Ferry, a town that was established fairly early in the exploration of the area as a transfer point to take a paddle wheeler up the Kootenay River into Canada, where, you guessed it, they were mining for gold.
Stink Bug
I have been asked by many people what it is like crossing the Canada – USA border with the “enhanced” border security rules now. My crossing into the States had been smooth, other than a bit more expensive and a lot more bureaucracy. I wasn’t worried about the Canadian side of the border – other than potential getting the third degree about any potential tariff items I might have bought in the USA. What I was worried about was random stops the Americans were doing to people leaving the country. It had been in the news recently that a “sting” operation had occurred at select border crossings for people leaving, resulting in some increased wait times. But everything I’d heard since suggested that was a one time thing and things were back to normal. It turned out that no American check point was present where I crossed, so I crossed without incident into Canada. Still, I would not recommend going down into the USA unless you are a Canadian citizen with a clean record. Anything else is likely to get you at the minimum increased scrutiny – if you can be denied entry on a technicality, assume you will be denied entry and just stay in Canada where things are a little more sane.
Back in Canada, it was time to get used to kilometers an hour, and speeds generally marked slower than in the USA for the same situations. It always amazes me that the US has 60 mph constructions zones on the freeways (State dependent, some are slower). In Canada, that would be the speed limit; you are lucky if you only have to slow down to 50mph in the most safe possible construction zone. But we were back in Canada, doing 70 km/h on what was a perfectly rural stretch of road I could be doing 90 on. Such is the safety culture here.
I restocked in Creston, noting that fruit prices in Canadian dollars were only slightly higher than the fruit prices in American dollars in the States. You certainly can’t assume you”ll save money on everything you buy in the States. The savings are selective; some things are actually cheaper in Canada, believe it or not. I don’t bother doing a massive grocery run before leaving the States – I’m not saving any money for what I buy. I just buy a few things I can’t get in Canada. The selection is definitely better in the States – we do pay a price for forcing bilingual packaging in Canada.
I continued north on Highway 3A beside Kootenay Lake. It is one of my favorite drives, with the trees, the water and the hills, plus the windy road that would be so fun in something a bit more sporty than an RV. My plan was to hit Garland Bay Recreation site for a few days, at least until the end of free camping at the end of April. It’s a nice campground, but there is some very nice boondocking nearby so I don’t feel compelled to pay for what becomes a very busy place as the weather warms up. In fact, there were several people camped there, including one in my favorite spot, and another across the campground in the other really nice spot. I settled for 3rd best near the entrance with a nice view but away a bit from the other campers.
I moved on after only a few days with the start of paid camping to a new boondocking spot I discovered on the motorcycle. It was new to both me and the area, having been logged out since I had last been to the area a couple of years ago. I had planned to cross Powder Creek on the bridge that had been under construction the last time I had been in the area, hoping that the road to Powder Creek Recreation site had been cleared of brush. It turns out the construction was halted at the abutment construction finish, with the beams for the span sitting in a pile nearby. I’m guessing the Forest Service decided that leaving the bridge span incomplete would save them a bunch of road maintenance for everything on the other side, since no logging was going on in the area. It doesn’t look like they are going to finish the bridge anytime soon – there is a large pile of boulders and fill blocking the road just before you go down to the bridge, with warning signs that the bridge is out a few klicks before.
My RV at the end of the road above
There had been a bit of logging in the area since I had last been here, with a new roads exiting right and left just before the closed bridge. Both roads ended in small logged out areas, with the left road ending on a ridge with a partial view of the lake. There was even a fire ring there, so this became my spot for the next week. The logging extended a fair ways down to the lake, but still it was quite a hike down. The logged out area is bad enough to navigate between the remains of trees and brush, but the forest here is thick with big fallen trees sometimes blocking your way. The terrain is also quite steep, with cliffs you need to get around. While I made it down to the rocky shores of the lake a couple of days, it wasn’t a fun hike.
There is a bear in there
I did have a couple of bear encounters while I was camped here. The first one was at dusk. I didn’t even realise I was looking at a bear in the distance at first, but sure enough, there was a bear on the road leading to my camp. That was nothing compared to the next morning, when a mama bear and her two cubs were foraging in the gully below the ridge I was parked on. She didn’t seem to concerned about my presence, only glancing my way once in a while to make sure I was staying put. I even caught some bear behavior which you can watch above. I’ve not seen a lot of bears in my travels, but this encounter made up for a lot of that lack.
My camping spot near the beach. I strangely didn’t get a picture of the actual beach this time.
The next week I decided to camp a little closer to town, at a spot I knew of already near Pebble Beach Recreation site. The rec site is only accessible by hiking or by boat, so it’s pretty quiet. I was down a logging road, closer to the lake this time, but still a bit of a slog to get down to the water. However, the logging road going into the spot crossed the trail going to Pebble Beach. The easiest route was to head back up the logging road to the trail, then follow the trail to the beach, even if it was a bit of a detour. Do not underestimate how hard it is to walk through logged out and forested areas in this part of the world – you go half the speed if you’re lucky. I tried two different shortcuts that saved no time and were way more effort to walk.
The little town of Riondel I passed through had one pub called “Full Throttle pub and grill”. I say ‘had’ as it looks like it is permanently closed at this point. There is no googles listing and what I can see of the interior looks empty. I was disappointed as I had been looking forward to taking the motorcycle in for an evening meal. Riondel isn’t doing that well. The local market is for sale too – if that goes down there really is nothing left for services in town. You can always go down to Crawford Bay where there is a small supermarket, but it is nice to have something in town.
Oregon Grape
My two weeks in familiar territory were done. I decided I needed to explore a new area before heading back to Alberta As the crow flies, the area was only about 40 km away from me, but the Purcell Mountain Range was in the way. I’d have to drive 250 km instead to go around these mountains. Such is driving in BC. See you next time on the way to a new boondocking area west of Kimberly.
