We left Castlegar in the morning and drove through Salmo, Creston, Yahk and Moyie, to arrive in Cranbrook later that afternoon. The route meanders through some spectacular valleys with mountain scenery.
Steep climbs and descents are typical of mountain passes in British Columbia, and challenge our progress, causing the transmission to kick into a lower gear, as the engine works harder to pull our 7,000 pound load over the mountain.
The higher you climb, the more you see alpine conifers, stunted from heavy winter snow packs. The flowering heather, providing a splash of colour in the otherwise monochromatic green roadside foliage.
The mountains supply a constant runoff from melting snow in the spring, or from passing showers of rain. The water slowly trickles down to form streams, bubbling with increasing ferocity across boulders worn round over the millennia. Fish find eddies, lying in wait to ambush a passing water insect, or fishing fly expertly presented by a fisherman.
The road cuts through the landscape, exposing geological snapshots, where rock is still in the process of being folded or thrust up with incredible force. Fault lines are noticeable where rock is ripped apart at different rates. During our travels, we notice changes in the sedimentary layers, and composition of rock laden with different minerals, the colours presented like an artists pallet.
We arrived in Cranbrook, and set up camp for two nights at Mount Baker RV Park, then headed out to visit with my friends, Kerry and Eugene. They are like family to me. They met Susan in person for the first time. We had an amazing evening, and looked forward to touring around the local attractions with them.