July 2, 2015

Grand Forks to Castlegar

Last night’s campground was right beside the highway and I mean right beside the highway.  I bet that my tent was less than 20 feet from the shoulder of the road.  Not only that but we were at the start of an uphill grade.  So every truck coming into town would be gearing down and every truck heading out of town would be stepping down on the gas.  Sometimes you would think a truck was coming right into the tent.  To say it was less than rest full sleep would not be an exaggeration.  I guess that is the danger of doing an un-scouted trip.

We were up and on the road at the usual time, and I was  glad to be rolling but my legs just didn’t seem to have any power.  There route today was low rolling ups and downs for the first 30 kms past Christina Lake.  It was nice and cool and the lake was so pretty  peeking  through the trees.  At the 30 km mark we started the big climb of the day through Bonanza pass.   It was 28 kms long and averaged 3.5 percent.  By now it is around 30 C so it is a tough climb.   Julie was stopping the van every 3-5 kms to hand out water.  Just before the summit there was a mountain stream beside the road so I stopped and poured water over myself.  That water was no more than 5 C.  Boy was it cold but it felt great.  The summit is called Paulson Summit even though the pass is called Bonanza Pass. It is at 1535 meters.  We had lunch at the summit and then started the big downhill into Castlegar.  Not an incrediblely steep down hill but the same 3.5 percent we had on the uphill.  The remaining 32 kms went by pretty quick and we were rolling in to Castlegar with a metric century on the speedometers.  A stop at the local DQ for a milkshake topped the day off. 

Tomorrow is a rest day.  Ken, Ed, Julie and myself elected to camp but Earnie and Jos took a hotel room.

Terry