Sept 15, 16. Creston, BC

And so…..we pulled out of Lost Lemon a little reluctantly…..it would have been good to have spent a bit more time here, but we also need to get a bit further west so that…if we can’t get across the US border for a milder winter….we can find a slightly warmer spot in Canada. We have already given up on getting back to Ontario before the winter hits. The original plan was to arrive in the west in time for the border opening so we could swing south and back around to Ontario. Latest news is not optimistic for that to happen anytime soon. So we continue west.

The drive through the Crowsnest pass to Creston is as we expected low rolling grades…..and we dropped quite a bit of elevation……..it felt like we were going mostly downhill to Creston.BC… (apparently the best place to retire according to surveys in 2015.)

The weather is definitely milder here and there are so many fruit stands…every second driveway had a sign selling fruit and veg.

Arrow Mountain rv park…not the nicest one we have ever seen…….its attached to a Ramada hotel…..the free hot showers were…….rustic….I was going to take a picture….but that would have meant going back in there. It was clean enough ….dont get me wrong….but ….it was a concrete block building…inside and out…..Inviting it was not……!!!

No security, no gate ….water sewer and 50 amp sevice……lady was keen for us to winter there…….mmmmmmm….nope…We did stay for a couple of days since…once we were there and unhitched…we still wanted to see a little bit of Creston.

Pretty little town with lots of fun sculptures scattered around…..and an abundance of local produce…

..Time for a hike…….this one was quite different…..very little elevation and very different landscape, ….a very beautiful walk…..Creston marsh trail….

Creston Marsh trail.

We met a couple just finishing up the walk as we were starting…we had just been discussing whether or not we needed the bear stuff…….the chap we met said there had been bears sighted on this trail in the previous week….so….valley floor….with bear spray and bells….!!!!

Turns out Creston Marsh is also a birding spot……there were a family of pelicans on the water…but we were too far away to get pictures……we did spot some turtles popping their heads out of the water……no bears…!!!!

Very different to our usual…but a super walk……

As lovely as Creston Valley is…we were not sorry to pull out of the campground here….So off we headed for the next part of the trek across the bottom of British Columbia through the Kootenay Pass………..and then came …..the Kootenay Pass…….!!!