Day 31: To Creston

July 30, 2007

I got up at 7 and on the road at 8:02. Incredibly early for me. The morning started cool but sunny with a south breeze. I'm now on Highway 3, the Crowsnest highway. It meanders across British Columbia's southern tier which is relatively remote and sparsely populated.

Today's entire route closely parallels a railroad grade and most of that is fairly level alongside Moyie lake and the Moyie river. The lakeside town of Moyie once had a thriving silver mine but only a few buildings remain now.

Unfortunately, the highway has quite a bit of truck traffic. The noise is annoying sometimes. The worst traffic I've seen since 2 weeks ago near Prince George.

The Crowsnest highway has a lot of truck traffic.

I stopped for lunch at the store in Yahk, a nice little village along the Moyie river. Shortly past Yahk is the turnoff to the Kingsgate/Eastport border crossing. Only 12 km to Idaho but I'm staying in B.C. for now.

The first and only sign I saw in Canada that showed distances in miles, near the Kingsgate/Eastport border crossing.

The road mostly follows rivers downstream towards Creston. I don't see huge mountains any more. I had a headwind all day but the terrain is very gentle.

Kinda looks like home (SW Oregon) to me.

The descent to Creston is very beautiful, going past several cherry orchards in an open valley with great views. This is the middle of the cherry harvest so the town is packed with temporary workers. Many seem to be college students. It's very different from the U.S. because none of the seasonal workers seem to be Mexican. Creston is a bustling town during the cherry harvest.

Descending to Creston, home to many cherry orchards.

The weather today was a bit cooler than yesterday. High of only 29C (85F). Today I crossed from Mountain time to Pacific time. I arrived at Cranbrook at 5PM but it seemed like 6PM. And now it gets dark at 9 PM instead of 10 PM. The last few km to Creston had heavy traffic and no shoulder. I camped at a commercial campground called "Pair A Dice" on the north edge of town. The campground was nearly full with many residents there for the cherry harvest. In the adjacent campsite were a mother and daughter who spoke French and said they were from Reunion (French island in the Indian ocean). That's pretty near the farthest point on earth from British Columbia.

Distance: 114 km / 71.3 mi

Climbing: 300 m / 990 ft

Today's ride: 114 km (71 miles)
Total: 2,497 km (1,551 miles)

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