Day 9, Wednesday, July 25, 2012, Radium Hot Springs to Fairmount Hot Springs
Very relaxed start to the day. We anticipated a 28 mile ride to Fairmount with no major climbs. I actually do not know what time we rolled out. It may have been around 10 AM or even 11. When we awoke there was a marine layer of clouds and by the time we hit the road it was clearing nicely.
There was a long, easy climb out of Radium Hot Springs and then the terrain rolled gently up and down nine miles to Inverness where we found a bakery for coffee and a pastry.
Out of Inverness we traveled a lightly used road on the west side of Windemere Lake. It was very nice not to have high speed cars whizzing by going one direction or the other.
The only wild life I saw was what appeared to be a young coyote. He ran across the road, my right to left, then quickly returned, left to right. I stopped to snap a picture as the coyote had stopped 20 meters away, but I believe the sound of my snaps on my handlebar bag unnerved the animal and the coyote bound off deeper into the brush. No picture for you, human!
Once we reached the end of West Side Road where it t-boned with highway 93/95 it was necessary to double back into Fairmount to find the Mountaineer Bungalows. It required a complete traverse of this village stretched out along the main highway. There are many golf courses here, condos, summer homes, and resorts. The main attraction is Fairmount Hot Spring's Resort, but the actual hot springs are closed due to an earlier mud slide. They are now hot mud springs.
The Mountaineer Bungalows are cabins. Our cabin has two bedrooms, one bedroom has two queen beds with its own bathroom, the other bedroom has one queen and its own bathroom, a combination living room and dining room with a hide a bed sofa and a six chair dining room table. It is spacious. Oh yes, a flat screen TV.
When will we camp? When the mosquitos are a minor nuisance and not a major difficulty. And when the weather is fair and not threatening. And even then one or two may not camp, anyway.
We are in the Columbia River Valley. Somewhere south of Fairmount the
head waters of the Columbia form and begin its long, majestic, flow to the Pacific Ocean. Draining a huge land mass as it flows along. This has been a wet summer here in this part of Canada. The tributaries are full.
Tomorrow will be our longest day on the bikes since we started, 50 plus miles. The terrain will be moderate and the elevation staying around 3000 feet.
My pictures today are of vistas, no animals.
This would be a nice picture of the Purcells' Mountain Range, but somebody put that tree in the way. Taken on our way out of Radium Hot Springs.
The background are the Purcells and the foreground is the Columbia and slough.
Same as above.
Windemere Lake(the Columbia) taken from West Side Road.
Indian Head Mountain. It is in the picture above to the left of center and flat topped.
Mountains above Fairmount.
Me looking at Indian Head. Photo by Geno. Taken with his iPhone.
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