07_12 Monday

Temp:  In the 60s F     

Weather: Mountain Weather (Changeable)

No ride day but wish I did.  Today we did a loop from Nelson up the Slocan Valley to 31A which took us over some mountain passes and into the Kootenay Valley and back to Nelson.  Donalda offered to be tour guide which meant we took the Caddy.  The road offered many twists, turns and elevation changes which meant it was hard for me to sit in the car when I saw many other motorcycles enjoying the road.  We stopped at a couple of high look outs over the Slocan Lake.  One just north of the town of Slocan and one on the way to New Denver called Cape Horn.  Both were hundreds of feet above the lake and offered great views.  We toured the Japanese internment camp memorial at New Denver and afterwards had lunch in a great little local restaurant there as well.  Along one off the walls of the restaurant stood a 1973 Norton Commando.  Any restaurant with a bike inside can’t be that bad.  We toured an old mining ghost town called Sandon.  Not much there now but in its hay day it had 28 Hotels.  Toured on to Kaslo and walked around the town.  Nice town with many early 1900’s buildings in good shape.  On the way south we stop at Fletcher Falls.  These falls take mountain water down to the Kootenay Lake.  Steep walk down but once at the bottom we could walk back almost to the base.  We ended off the day by meeting Bob at the Ainsworth Hot Springs.  Not only did they have a nice pool with a great view of the Kootenay valley but they also had a cave on site that the water was up to my waist.  You could walk, wade, float through the cave.  The caves water was 105 F.  and the pool was 96 F.  Thanks Donalda for a wonderful tour, we couldn’t have found all those places without you, but the next time I will be on my bike.  A word to the wise, if your going to do this loop take a local with you as the places are hard to find.