Day 12 - Crawford Bay to Creston, B.C.

The ride today takes me along the east edge of the vast and windy Kootney Lake. The ride is surprisingly quiet - which is a bonus for me as the shoulder is very narrow. Ferry traffic only comes by every few hours - and local traffic is minimal - so most of the time I get to ride on the outer one quarter of the lane undisturbed. In many respects, I've timed this trip nicely in that summer vacation for most families does not start until some time in mid-June. I expect this route is very busy in the summertime.

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The road does not have any massive elevation changes, but I find I am continuous riding up and rolling down a hill. The scenery is gorgeous - and I find myself stopping often just to take a picture of the landscape and/ or the many beautiful flowers. There are notable fragrances of lilacs in the shade and wild roses in the sun - I find myself slowing down to take in the smells as I pass by these bushes. On one of the posted signs I learned that deer, bear and wild turkeys frequent this area. Today I got to see one wild turkey (YAY!), no deer, and thankfully no bears either.

Towards the end of the ride, before getting into Creston was the biggest hills of the day. It was quite hot by then and I was into bottle #4 - a sign that re-stocking water was necessary. I stopped at a little gas station and had a chat with a local and mentioned that it was “pretty hot”. He indicated that it gets much hotter than this. Again, I think the timing of this trip is great as I'm not a big fan of really hot temperatures. I do realize that as I get further across Canada it will get warmer - hopefully I'll be able to gradually acclimatize. The next few days are looking like there's pretty good chance that things are going to cool down - might even get some rain.

Tomorrow I have a long ride (105 km) to Cranbrook. From Cranbrook it is only about 200 km to the Alberta border! I'm excited to get to Alberta, but I know once I get to the flat lands, I will miss the mountains - I'm just going enjoy them while they last.

Day 12 - May 25, 2026

Start time: 7:15

Stop time: 1:30

KM Travelled: 77 km

Elevation: +1,064m/ -1,011m

Special Stuff: Scenery and flowers