Well it's been a few days since we let you know what we are up to these days. We have been noodling around the mountains of the Kootenay Valley in Southern British Columbia. It is breathtaking.
We found a funky little moutain community called Kimberly, BC. It's about two hours north of the US border nestled in the high alpine region on St Mary's River. We have been heading up to the lake at the head of the valley to fish at dusk, which at this time of year is about 10:00 PM. We have been dry fly fishing and catching native Cutthroat Trout and Rainbow Trout. They are beautiful fish but a little on the smallish side for my taste.
Kimberly is known as a Bavarian Community with one of the largest (and underrated) ski hills in British Columbia. The town took on a Bavarian theme not because of the European influence but rather as a Chamber of Commerce idea in the late 70's to attract more tourists. It worked. Kimberly boasted the largest working Cookoo Clock in the world. And if you put a "loonie" in the till, (or a buck in the machine) Happy Hans will come out of the open doors and yodel for you. It's was quite amazing to watch the faces of little kids and us as Hans did his thing in the town square.
We also spent one day on a guided fishing trip to the famous Bull River. We had an epic day. we rafted 22 miles of river in about 10 hours and caught at least 50 Wild Cutthroat Trout. Our guides Bernie and Jeff were typical laid back troutbums and new buddies by the end of the day. The Bull runs about 100 kilometers out of the high mountain wilderness down into the Kootenay River which runs into the Columbia, etc, etc.
This morning we are traveling westerly to eventually end up in Vancouver BC. If it is meant to be. Charlotte thinks I would enjoy seeing the city and hopefully the salmon fishing or Steelhead will be running the rivers when we get there.
We stopped and fished the Moyie River this morning for a couple of hours and touched at least 20 fish, the largest being a 16" Cutbow Hybrid Trout. It was beautiful. We also caught our share of native Brook Trout which are the prettiest fish in the world in my opinion. We have some pics but our camera dropped into the water for the 3rd time and we are not sure it can survive a third baptism in a cold river in BC.
Last night was one of the most magical on our trip so far. When we were preparing for our daily dusk fishing outing we heard someone playing the Accordian in the campground. Before we knew it we were doing a Polka in front of our camper. Then we went up river and caught a couple of Cutthroat which we brought back in threw on the barbie for an amazing dinner of just caught trout and coleslaw Charlotte made along with a little Rex Goliath Wine followed by the best Bing Cherries cut up in ice cream for dessert!!! Heavenly
We will be cruising around wine county in the Okanagan Valley for the next four days It should be big fun. As you all can imagine, Ms Charlotte is stoked for this part of our journey. More stories to follow in a day or so.
All the best to all of you and may you find what you seek in this world!
Andiamo!
C, Me, and J
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