Rockie3s IV June 18 South Loop and Winery Tour

 

South of Rockies IV

June 18, 2025

Creston South loop and Winery Tour

This morning, we set off on what I have called the South Loop.  Basically, it is a loop which runs south to the US-Canada border and then winds through a bunch of the farm lands south of Creston and in the valley.  As the route to the US – Canada border follows the Kootenay River it is primarily down hill.  However, as we were not going to enter the US we had to take the Port Hill RD.  Any road with the word “Hill” in it is going to be a major climb and this was no exception.  After a few miles of steep and not so steep sections we reached the plateau.  With the mountains surrounding the farm lands it was really beautiful.   The course was rolling with some short steep declines and climbs with lots of twists and turns.  With not a car in sight it was a cyclists dream ride.

We came upon a cairn honoring the first ranchers in the valley.  They arrived in the Kootenay Valley in 1894. I was surprised that it was that late but upon a little research found that Fort Steele was established in 1887.

As we looped back to town we crossed the Lister Canyon. It had a large water fall and with the railroad trestle was very dramatic. 

Back in camp it was only 10:40 so we had lots of time for further cycling adventures.  After a lot of debate (who said the job of TD is easy), a winery tour was decided upon.  The first winery was the Wynnwood winery off hwy 3A.  It was about 17 kms ride from camp in Creston.  It is a small winery making only about 12,000 cases of wine a year.   They have a Pinot Noir and a Merlot.  The fellow running the winery is from Turkey. He had a lot of great stories.  The Pinot Noir was good but the Merlot was really the star in my books.   

The second winery was the Skimmerhorn Winery which was only a couple of Kms from the campground.  It is a much larger operation. They have a beautiful location overlooking the valley and their vineyards.  They also have a very nice patio and serve tapas.  We had a couple of platters of various meats and cheeses before the wine tasting.  To start there was a white, followed with a rose which was actually a very dark red as the white had been blended with a Foch red.   Next was a Pinot mixed with a Foch and finally a Foch.  The Foch is a large red German grape which was the only survivor of the cold winter of 2023-2024.  It was a very strong deep red.  Sitting on the patio tasting wine and eating cheese was just fantastic. 

While everyone has their own taste my choice was the Merlot from Wynnwood. 

The rides today totalled 70 kms so we did pretty good. 

What a great day we had. 

 

Terry