Living Virally: Where There's Fire, There's Smoke

 Episode 9- Part 1

Our COVID summer started wet and cool but finished with the heat that the Okanagan summer is famous for.  For the last decade that heat has also brought an increased danger of forest fires. Any fires in the Valley always brings with it stress along with smoke. The last weeks of August were spoiled by a fire occurring just on the southern border of Penticton. Thankfully the winds stayed supportive and the fire was brought under control after several scary days.  

What was unexpected was the huge fires that roared up the west coast from California, Oregon and Washington. With months and sometimes years of little or no precipitation, these states are dry as tinder. The smoke from these fires completely  blanketed the southern parts of British Columbia. Based on the vagaries of wind direction, Penticton with a north wind would have clear skies or with a shift to the south, the valley would fill with smoke So thick, we could not see across the street. 

 Photo: Penticton Western

 

Our COVID masks were seeing double duty. But, thanks to our years of training in Harbin, our lungs were up to the challenge.  Cough, cough! The day this picture was taken, the pollution levels were higher than the sensors could detect. 

Checking the weather for the last week of September, it looked like we had another week or two of summer weather before frost arrived and with COVID infections starting to climb to new highs, it seem like the time for one last adventure before hunkering down for the winter. 

 

The last day of September saw us on the road and a 5 hour ride to Nelson, B.C., the first stop in our 6 day ride and hike through the Kootenay’s located deep in the Rocky Mountains and just one valley over from our home in the Okanagan valley.

After an overnight in Nelson and a short 40 kilometre drive we arrived at Balfour ferry, the start of today’s adventure.  There are a number of ferry crossings necessary throughout the Kootenay’s, all free as they are considered part of the highway system.  Nonie's fear of ferries was awake and in full bloom. Thankfully once she saw the ferry arrive, her fears were somewhat calmed. It did not appear to be in danger of capsizing. 

It is a short 40 minute ride across Kootenay Lake to the Kootenay Bay terminal and the beginning of our two hikes in Pilot Bay Provincial Park. The first hike was a short 2K, steep hike into the site of the 115 year old Pilot Bay lighthouse. 

The mouth of the bay is quite wide and at night or in the thick pea soup fog common on Kootenay Lake, it could be entered mistakenly thinking it was main channel of Kootenay Lake. Hence the need for a lighthouse. For over 50 years, Kootenay Lake was the only way to transport goods around the area. GPS has put the lighthouse out of business. 

 

From the lighthouse we enjoyed our lunch and a great view of the Balfour ferry as it crossed Kootenay Lake and made its way to another landing at Kootenay Bay.

 

 

Next hike was a 6K round trip into Sawmill Bay. The trail map indicated no elevation change at the beginning and at Sawmill Bay. What was failed to be mentioned is that while the trail follows the shoreline of the bay,  it was sometimes necessary to can climb hundreds of feet up the ridge. Doing this numerous times during the walk made it much steeper than it looked.   But with the sun shining and a nice cooling breeze coming in off Kootenay Lake, we enjoyed the uppy-downy and were rewarded with a cute little rocky beach.

Then it was back to the ferry to Balfour and or our second night. Woke up to Day 3 and couldn’t see the lake from our lake view hotel window. Seems the smoke may be following us. 

Nope, it was just some of that famous Kootenay Lake pea soup fog.

 

First stop of day 3 was Fletcher Falls. A short 10 minute walk scored us a sweet view of another cute little B.C. waterfall.

 

Next stop, the town of Kaslo. To quote British Columbia magazine, “a vintage silver dollar in the West Kootenay’s pocket.”  117 years old, first the site of a sawmill that provided timber for the late 19^th century silver boom. Today it relies on forestry and tourism. Kaslo is home to the S.S. Moyie, a steam stern wheeler the carried freight and passengers up and down Kootenay Lake from 1898 to 1957. In 1958 it was beached in Kaslo to become a national heritage site and museum. As a retired power engineer, I'm always up for anything steamy. An old power engineer joke.

From Kaslo, we were off to the ghost town of Sandon. Built in the 1890’s to serve the miners arriving to work the rich deposits of silver-lead ore, the town was home to over 5,000.

 There is not much of the old town left but volunteers are working hard to maintain the few building that remain.  

Photo: Selkirkloop.org

Again as a retired power engineer, what most intrigued me about going to Sandon besides ghosts was the 104 year hydro powerhouse that is still operating today and feeding power into BC Hydro’s electrical grid. The plant was the most technological advanced system of its day providing electricity to the town and Silversmith Mine. It is currently the oldest continuing operating plant in Canada. 

 

After a quick wander through the village of New Denver, Day 3 ended in the town of Nakusp, home to the Nakusp River Hot Springs and our home for the next two nights.