Cranbrook - Creston 2026

 Cranbrook - Creston 2026

Creston Winery Tour

June 18, 2026

Today was the day we were going to do the winery tour.  The Wynnwood winery out in Wynndel which we visited last year has closed so that left us with three wineries to visit,  Red Bird, Baillie-Grohman, and Skimerhorn.  

The wineries did not open until  11:00 am so it was a lazy morning but we put our time to good use and went to the main street bakery for coffee and pastries.  My cinnamon bun was about 6" square and was absolutely fantastic. Shopping for supper groceries followed so that left the rest of the day free.

It was only about 3 kms up the road to Red Bird.  It is owned by Sharron and Remi Cardinal (I guess that is where the name came from).  Sharron was hosting the wine tasting and she was an excellent hostess.  Her knowledge of the wines which they produce was great.  They have also started a line of ciders but the wine was really the star.  They had three whites, a rose, and one red.  They were all excellent.

Only a few kms down the road was Baillie-Grohman.  It is a much bigger operation and the tasting was a lot more business like.  They had three white wines and a red.  The wines were all good but none of them stood out.  But I am not a wine tasting specialist and with this cold my taste is really off.  

Skimerhorn was the last place and it was right next to Baillie-Grohman.  They have an absolutely beautiful deck which over looks the Kootenay valley.  They have a good menu of food so we ordered a couple of plates of treats.  They had three whites, a rose and a red.  I thought their Pinot was very good.  The red was a Foch and was really heavy.  It would be good with big rare steak.  Sitting on the patio enjoying the view was a piece of heaven.

Having completed the wine tasting we wobbled back to the campsite.  A short ride day at only 10 kms but a really memorable day.   

In my totally humble opinion Red Bird was the absolute stand out best of the three.  Best over all tasting experience, and by far the best wine.   Their Atelier Red was a total knock out.  

Terry    

 

Cranbrook -Creston 2026

 Cranbrook - Creston 2026

Creston brewery tour/ Rest day

June 17, 2026

Brewery tour:

After the bike ride we headed across the street to the Kokanee Brewery.  It is actually the Columbia Brewery which is owned by Labatt Brewing which is in turn owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev.   They produce a wide variety of beers under different labels but the most famous is Kokanee.  Kokanee was first brewed in 1959 when the Columbia Brewery was built.  However it really got going with the highly successful ad campaign which featured the BC. sasquatch.  The basic brewery which was constructed in 1959 still forms the back bone of the operation.  Most of the larger vessels are still in use and only a couple of the copper kettles have been replaced.  There have been a lot of modifications and upgrades over the years. The facility is fully automated and a couple of operators control everything from a control room.  The canning line is the most recent facility upgrade.  It can process 1.5 million can a day.  It is really quite fascinating to watch the cans flying along the line.  After the tour we returned to the tasting room to try out some of different beers.  The tour guide was the same fellow who did the tour when we were here last year.  We had a lot of fun sampling the different beers.  

Rest day in Creston: 

I have been suffering from this horrid cold for the last couple of weeks and it just doesn't seem to be getting better.  Although the nasal congestion is a lot better, but the sore throat lingers on.  The effects of this cold have exaggerated by not getting a good nights sleep and hard days on the bike.  This morning I just felt awful so I decided to take a rest day.  Ken, Ed and Julie rode off and I laid down for a nap.  I don't think I was down for more than a minute before I was fast asleep.   I slept for 2.5 hours. I awoke feeling 100% better.  Julie arrived back and we went shopping for groceries.  The afternoon was spent relaxing in the sun and sucking down root beer.  It is totally amazing how much better a 2.5 hr nap and a bunch of root beer can make you feel.

Terry  

 

Cranbrook - Creston 2026

 Cranbrook- Creston 2026

Creston Wildlife Preserve

June 16, 2026

It looked like it was going to be a warm day today so we had not planned a really big ride.   We thought that it would be a good idea to ride across the valley and tour the Wildlife Preserve.  The out and back to the Wildlife Preserve was on  28 kms so we added a few by riding a road which heads south along the Kootenay river.  This is a really nice ride as it is deal flat across the flood plain of the river and because it dead ends with only a few farms along the way there is almost no traffic.  Although it is getting pretty rutted and the pavement is badly in need of repair;

On the way back we stopped at the wildlife preserve and took a walking tour.  The spring migration is long past and the fall migration is not for several months as a result there were no big flocks to see.  The big observation tower has been repaired from when we were here in June of 2025 so we had to climb it. The view of the wetlands from 3 stories up was magnificent.  I can only imagine the view from the tower when thousands of birds are coming in on a migration.  We did see a couple of logs in one of the ponds which had a lot of painted blue turtles on it, several red wing black birds and several eagles riding the thermals. 

Coming back across the valley we had a very nice tail wind.  They are working on the Kootenay Pass so all the cars were bunched up on the highway.  This made the trip across the bridge easy as we just waited until the cars had left and the we cruised across the big bridge.  

The short ride turned out to be just over 45 kms so it was very nice.  

We are off to tour the Kokanee brewery this afternoon.  I will try and make a special post with pictures on that but we will see how it goes with the post tour sampling.  

Terry 

Cranbrook - Creston 2026

 Cranbrook - Creston 2026

Creston South Loop

June 15, 2026

I felt just awful this morning when I got up.  This cold is really hanging on.  I am totally congested and have a terrible barky cough.  I was awake at 4:45 am coughing uncontrollably so I used some Dristan nasal mist and went and sat in the car.  Lying down just makes the congestion worse.  Next thing I knew Ken was banging on the car window as it was time for breakfast. 

Today we were going to ride the south loop and then continue out to do the north loop.   It is 10 kms south along hwy 21 to the US border but I stopped to take a picture of a fisherman on the Goat River.  It looked like a great day and place to be fishing.   The Port Hill Road has a 3 kms climb from the border up to the plateau above the river valley.  I was wheezing and coughing by the time I made the top of the hill.  Not being able to breath is a real handicap when you are riding a standard bike (non-Electric).  The route we took was a little different than the one we did a couple of days ago so it was nice to see some new scenery.  

By time we got to the turn on Hwy 3 to head for the north loop I knew I had had enough so Julie and I turned back to camp and Ken and Ed rode on to do the north loop.

After a shower Julie and I headed off to buy groceries for tonight's supper.  I was also on the hunt for some more cold and Flu medicine.  I wound up with a big bottle of Benylin and a box of NeoCitaran .

Hopefully a big dose of this stuff will help.

While today wasn't a big ride day at only 31.1 kms I was glad to have made it as far as I did.

Terry 

Cranbrook - Creston 2026

 Cranbrook -Creston 2026

Creston Arrow Creek Loop

June 14, 2026

This morning was only 11 C when we got up but it was warming up quite quickly and by 9:30 when we headed off it was already 18 C,   

We were going to ride the Arrow Creek Loop which follows the Arrow Creek road east of town.   So we headed east on highway 3 east to the Arrow Creek Road.  You have to make a left turn across the highway which is not always easy to do.  However as we were fairly early and it was a Sunday there was no traffic and the turn was not a problem.   From the highway the Arrow Creek Road makes a bunch of lefts and rights past a bunch of rural acreages.  Some of them are ultra modern exclusive homes right of the pages of the best architecture magazines and some are hillbilly classic.  A lot of them have unique pieces in the drive way proclaiming the address.  Once you leave the highway it is a steady climb all the way to the summit of the road.  At the summit is a cut into the vertically bedded leaverite.  At one point I was thinking this would make a heck of an out and back as it is down hill all the way back to Scotties Campground in Creston.  However it is only 13.9 kms out so it would be kind of short ride. 

From the summit of the Arrow Creek road it is a wickedly steep down hill to Hwy 3a.  Hwy 3 runs east of town and 3A runs north from town so you have cut the corner off by taking the Arrow Creek Road.  We road north on the 3A to the Wynndel Canco where we had a little break before heading home on hwy 21 which runs straight south to the US border.  

Julie  fixed some brats in beer and onions for lunch.  They were absolutely wonderful.

While it was only a 35.8 kms ride  today it was a lot of fun and the weather was jut perfect.  

I am not sure what we are having for supper but my bets are that it will end with something chocolate. 

What a great day

Terry 

Cranbrook - Creston 2026

 Cranbrook - Creston 2026

Creston South Loop

June 13, 2026

The weather here in Creston is about 6 C warmer in the mornings and 10 C warmer in the afternoons.  Today we had a high of 22 C which is just about perfect. Oddly enough we are having an afternoon cloud burst.  Weather channel gave it a 20% chance and it looks like we got picked as the place for the little blast of rain.  

As it was already 14C by 9:30 am, so we headed off on the southern loop here at Creston.  The southern loop takes you south to the US boarder via Hwy 21. Just before you get to the boarder you turn up Port Hill Road.  It is a 5 km climb up a canyon to the valley which is south of Creston.  The area is primarily rolling farm land, the majority of it is hay fields.  As you get closer to Creston the hay fields give way to cherry orchards.  I had hoped that cherries might be ready which would be about 3 weeks early but they are just little green lumps at this point.       

The south loop is a really pleasant ride with lots of turns and ups and downs. Once you get past Port Hill road all of the climbs are quite short.  However there is one climb which is only about 500 meters long but is 16%.  It has always been a grind to get over it but this year I was only able to get about 450 meters up before I had to walk.  Getting old or just out of shape?   

After we rolled back into camp Ed and Julie took little Wrigley out for a short walk so that she could do her business while Ken and I feed the mosquitos.  They seem to be very aggressive this year.  Back on our bikes we rolled down town to the bakery for lunch.  The treats in the bakery are extraordinary.  

Ken has agreed to do salmon on the barbeque this evening so I slid up to Save On and picked up a very nice looking salmon fillet.  And a chocolate desert.  

Not the biggest ride but a very satisfying ride of 36 kms today.

What a great day. 

Terry  

   

Cranbrook - Creston 2026

 Cranbrook - Creston 2026

Creston Moving Day

June 12. 2026

Today was moving day from Cranbrook to Creston where we will spend the next 9 nights.   There are lots of fun things to do here in Creston so I am really looking forward to our time here in Creston.  

We were up early packing up and getting ready to roll.  I checked the gas prices and Cranbrook was $0.20 per liter cheaper so I was off to fill up before heading down the road to Creston.  It was only 105 kms so no hurray.   Ken, Ed, and Julie had arrived before me so they were all waiting in the downtown parking lot.   My phone and watch had caught the time change to Pacific time and it was only just 10:00 am.

We stuffed my bike into Ken's trailer and we all piled into the car and headed up the highway to the Glass House.  I had originally planned the trip to the Glass House as a bike ride but highway 3A is just too narrow with no shoulder and and too many cars on too windy and hill are road to be safe.  It was about  35 kms drive up to the Glass House and we passed the Wynnwood Winery but it seems to be closed so it is off the wine tour ride.  

The Glass House was constructed in 1952-53  by a George Brown who was a retired funeral home director in Red Deer Alberta.  He hated to see all of the embalming fluid bottles thrown out so he started collecting them.  When he retired in 1951 he had saved 650,000 bottles. The bottles are 16 oz bottles and you need approximately 1.5 bottles of fluid per body.  I guess he had a busy career.  In 1952 ground was broken on construction on the site on Kootenay Lake.  It is a gorgeous site overlooking the lake.   The bottles being square and about 2 inches on a side are laid with their caps on with side by side with mortar.  The trapped air acts as insulation and makes the house quite warm. By 1953 the house was finished and he lived in the house until his death.  As the house is so unique it quickly became a road side attraction.  Mr Brown's relatives still live in the house in the winter months and the summer it is a road side attraction.  Today Mr Brown's grand daughter in-law greeted us at the front gate. What a strange and unique place.

Back in Creston we hit A&W for lunch.  Nothing like a Teen Burger and a iced mug of Root Beer.  After lunch we hit Save-On and picked up supplies for tonight's meal.  No chocolate cake though.  It is chocolate cream pie.  

Checked in to Scotties RV park.  It is such a nice place.  

What a great day. 

Terry 

  

Cranbrook - Creston 2026

 Cranbrook - Creston

Lickity Split Marysville

June 11,2026

Last night saw the clearing out of the rain clouds which have been haunting us.  However the clear skies brought colder weather.  It was only 6C this morning.  However the bright sunny skies brought much warmer weather and by 10:00 am it was 17C.   

We pushed off with the idea that we would have lunch at the Marysville pub.  We would ride the rail trail to Kimberly and then instead of continuing into Kimberly at the end of the rail trail we would double back down Hwy 95A to Marysville.  We had lunch there a couple of years back and it was excellent.  

The ride up the rail trail was just perfect without a breeze and the sun on our backs.  I just love this ride as the scenery is so nice.  There is almost always a deer beside the trail, grazing on grass along the trail.  Ed and Julie had brought their dog Wrigley along and I was wondering how this was going to work out in the Marysville pub.  Maybe we should opt for a parking lot lunch at Save-On in Kimberly.    

At Kimberly we turned south down the highway to Marysville.  It is about 6 kms down a quite steep grade into Marysville.  Julie was not impressed with the highway but as there is a wide shoulder along this stretch it is completely safe.   

  

In Marysville the quandary of Wrigley and the pub was solved as the pub had a sign that the kitchen was closed for lunch.  The alternative was just a couple doors down at Lickity Split the local ice cream parlor.  Huge ice cream cones for lunch were a perfect alternative and we sat outside enjoying the sunshine;

From Marysville we headed back to the rail trail and back to Cranbrook, for a total 59.5 kms with a total climb of 376 m.

Back at camp I headed over to Save-On to pick up supper. Ken has been doing a marvelous job of barbequing for us. We have also enjoyed chocolate cake for desert every night.  I didn't want to break the winning streak so I picked up another chocolate cake. 

What a great day!

Terry