Sept 17 Kootenay Pass to Hideaway and discovering Greenwood.

Pulling out along the valley was very pretty…..then……..we got to the Kootenay pass……1800 metres at the top of the pass…….its a long haul up……..and seems like an even longer haul down…..Oh Boy….its a road….. Kicking horse had one runaway truck lane…..Kootenay had at least 12….I stopped counting…….!!! The haziness is not smoke…its pouring rain…..!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kootenay_Pass

Just to make the point there are avalanche gates as you approach the top…… a breathtaking journey….both beautiful……and terrifying with signs that said 6% grades for 8km…….8% for 4 km….and it seems to be a never-ending down as you gaze down into the valley…and up ahead to more mountains.

I don’t think I had ever really appreciated the scale of these mountains…….not just the size of them but the scale of the landscape they cover.

We did a one night stop at Country Hideaway in Grand Forks…….lovely little spot…….would defo return in the summer…

The park is tucked in to one of the meanders of the river, far enough off the road to be really quiet….but close enough to still be convenient. Best showers so far….the owners were super nice …lovely park.

Mike…the owner said we still have some big hills before we get to Osoyoos……..my eyes are wide in apprehension of what’s next………the trip over even more mountains to Osoyoos.

We stopped for a sandwich break in Greenwood. There was a convenient spot to pull off the road and we were getting hungry. (As soon as we stopped…two other rigs pulled up beside us…….LOL…it was a good spot…!!!) It turned out to be a very fortuitous stop. Greenwood was a little gem.

Turns out….unbeknownst to us …Greenwood had a big role to play in the internment of Japanese Canadians in wartime as the first town to offer to take in those forcibly removed from the coast. The town imparts a real reverence for the relationship it developed with the Japanese families it homed in a mutually beneficial arrangement to repopulate the town. https://www.greenwoodnikkei.ca/page7.html

It had originally been a mining town….but its smelters were shut down and the town was dying…….the xenophobic actions of the Canadian Govt towards the Japanese living on the Pacific coast and their forced removal saved the town it would seem.

…..and the town has this fascinating ‘American west’ vibe…even in its currently run down state. I’m not sure how much of its recent disrepair is COVID related……but what a great little stop….

Next big score in Greenwood…..a trailer friendly gas station at the other end of town…..so quick gas fill up and then next stop will be Gallagher lakes in Oliver BC