Day 35 - Thursday June 22/17

Another travel day today in BC - from Premiere Lake Provincial Park to the Municipal Campground in Golden (see map)

We had breakfast ‘al fresco’ (and it was ‘fresco’!!), overlooking the Sheep Creek that ran through the campground right in front of our site (photo)

We had a somewhat leisurely morning at the Premiere Lake campground, including time to play in the very elaborate playground in the campground (photos)!

We also stopped to do a good deed of calling the Campground Operator to advise that another camper had left this morning and forgotten their generator (a $2,000 - $3,000 item) in their campsite. Between a walk along the creek, our time in the playground, and the good deed, it was noon before we left the campground.We filled up with gas on the highway just south of the campground exit ($107.9/l - best price in the area!), and then hit the road north. 

Not too much to stop and see on the way today, except at Canal Flats (photo), 

Our route first followed the Columbia River heading north from Columbia Lake at Canal Flats, where explorer David Thompson portaged between Columbia Lake and the Kootenay River in 1808. Later, in 1889, a canal with a lock was built there. (photos)

We also stopped at the Kicking Horse Coffee roasters plant in Invermere, where we bought a bag of ground coffee for ‘emergency’ purposes (we drink Kicking Horse coffee regularly, and have several bags of beans on hand to grind; but thought we should have a bag of ground coffee in case we are in places where we don’t have electricity and so can’t grind beans!).

We stopped at the ‘Dry Gultch' BC Parks campground for a picnic lunch of egg salad sandwiches.

We discovered that a glacial gravel deposit (We think what we would call a ‘morraine’ in Ontario, but HUGE!) actually reversed the flow of the Columbia River millennia ago.) (photos)

And then we followed the Spillimacheen River I think). We travelled through a broad river valley with lots of wetlands, with the Rockies to our right (east) and the Purcell Range to our left (west).

We arrived at Golden Municipal Campground at about 4:30pm. After getting set up, we took a nap, and then had grilled hamburgers and salad supper. We took a short walk along the Kicking Horse River and railway tracks which border the municipal campground, (photos) (the gravel hill is representative of the kind of gravel berm that redirected the Columbia River)(photos).

Then we wrote this blog.  

Planning to have a short campfire tonight. Then touring tomorrow at the Rogers’ Pass and perhaps Revelstoke.