Weekend Getaway To The East Kootenays

With an intent to get away from the smoky skies of Castlegar BC, we decided to go on a random adventure to visit our neighbours in the beautiful East Kootenays. This trip started off at 630 am after I had just gotten off nightshift. I was saying the day prior "Oh lets do Fisher Peak, and Three Sisters Summit, and Jumbo pass all in 3 days." My sisters said well maybe lets just play it by ear because who knows time frame wise what we'll be able to do. Well the story went something like this.....

Day 1: Leave Castlegar BC at 7 am. We drove through our beautiful picturesque mountains, past Salmo out towards Creston, and of course less then a half hour into our trip... someone has to pee. Sigh... yes we know the joy of travelling with a group of women. We stopped at this gorgeous mountain lake rest area near the Monk Creek Trailhead(another beautiful hike to be told of at a later date) and took a pee break. We all crammed back in the truck and headed out towards Creston. (Continued below)

Salmo Creston Rest Area

On the way we witnessed some of the forest fire devastation, just off of the highway. It was pretty smoky there, and no one was able to stop to take photos because traffic was being pushed through to make sure no one was interfering with fire fighting efforts. Once we were clear of the smoke we entered the cute little city of Creston BC. At this point someone had to pee yet again so we stopped at the Visitors Center. They had a little farmers market. We took advantage of the opportunity, and checked out all the little booths. We stumbled upon the most beautiful booth at that whole market called Brittanys Flower Farm. This woman's booth was just adorned with the most unique, and stunning fresh cut flower arrangements that we had ever seen. She really has an eye for design, and the smell was amazing! If anyone is ever in the Creston area, and is in need of someone for wedding arrangements. Or just to maybe get your friend girlfriend, wife, or mother a little pick me up. She should be your girl! We bought one just to take long with us on our road trip because they were all so beautiful. It really helped with the air quality in the truck. The mint really cancelled out the beer/hiking/camping smell haha.

Brittanys Flower Farm

After leaving Creston, we were admiring all the mountains that really start to show up. The different ranges start to show their real beauty. Cranbrook has got to be one of the most beautiful places in the East Kootenays, due to being in the heart of two different ranges. The Rocky Mountains, and the Purcells surround it in such a breathtaking way. Driving into Cranbrook we were all starving, and of course wanted to do what we do best. Check out their brewery. So we hit up the Heid Out which is the home of Fisher Peak Brewing . We had some deep fried pickles, and split an amazing taster rack. The diversity in their beers was great, and we really enjoyed some of the names. Soggy Otter Brown Ale, Elephant Run IPA, Prospector Pilsner, just to name a few. Our favorite was the Elephant Run IPA, but the pilsner was actually pretty tasty for a pilsner in our opinion. We asked the waitress what hikes she would recommend and Lakit Lookout seemed like the best option. We were too far along in the afternoon to tackle Fishers Peak, and our post nightshift sister was fading fast. We'll have to save that for another trip out here. Exploring Cranbrook was fun they had a farmers market going on as well. It was bigger then Crestons, but also more expensive. They had tons of produce and baked pies, but unfortunately we had a hike to do!

Sisters Enjoying a Fine Flight

So we headed out to Lakit Lookout (Click here for our photos and description of Lakit Lookout). Just one word describes the road to get there. Rough. We are used to rough roads because we hike often, but this was a rough and very narrow road to get to this hike, and its a good 7.5 km of rough rattling good times. You would need a high clearance vehicle for this. Once we got to the trailhead we parked and got started as it was already nearing 3 pm. This hike is stunning. It is steep to make up for elevation gain in a short period of time. There are a few steep switchbacks, but every area that you stop if you need a break is absolutely breathtaking. The views here are just incredible. If anyone has ever hiked Idaho Peak in the West Kootenays this would be the Idaho Peak of the East

Kootenays, but much steeper. The views once you get to the top are so open and picturesque that it is mind blowing, especially for such a short hike. It is so rewarding. There is a little lookout cabin as well, that people will often stay in overnight to view the magnificent sunrise.

Lakit Lookout

Unfortunately, we were on a bit of a time crunch so after briefly taking it all in, we headed down the hill. Plus we had one other thing on our mind. White Swan. What is White Swan you say? White Swan Provincial Park boasts some of the most scenic campsites in the Kootenay area, and guess what else they have? Natural Hot Springs!!! We set up all our camping gear at our site, made food, and settled in for the night. We were planning on hitting the hot springs in the cooler morning when it is less busy. After all I had been up for 24 hours by the time we headed up Lakit. So we tapped out early planning on taking a soak and heading off to Invermere in the morning.

Camping Grub

Day 2: We all woke up well rested. We made some food, and were super stoked to hit up the hot springs! Lussier Hot Springs are small but what they don't have in size they make up for in beauty. There are 4 smaller size pools, right beside the creek, in the middle of the forest. They are amazing! A little slice of creek side heaven if you will. We soaked away tired muscles, and left that place with good vibes only . As we were leaving White Swan Provincial park, we were held up by some cattle crossing. After they let us through we were on the road again. This time to Invermere. (Continue below)

Lussier Hot Springs

So on our way to Invermere the weather was good, but starting to get a little smoky. As we were driving through Fairmont we saw the hoodoos, and decided we cant drive by without climbing up on them. So we went off the track, and drove up to the hoodoos trail. These hoodoos are some of the most magnificent we have seen. We saw a few in Banff, but none as big as these ones. The trail to get up to them is short and sweet, and the view from above them is amazing. It is just crazy to think these things are simply formed from mud and rock. Like cement pillars, just naturally created. There is an old Ktunaxa Legend that states these hoodoos are the ribs of a large sea creature killed at sea while it was trying to swim through the rocky mountain trench. After the hoodoos we went into Invermere BC.

The Hoodoos Trail

It was actually quite smoky in Invermere. We had intended to hike Jumbo that afternoon, but it was so smoky we weren't sure if the views were worth it. We decided we would grab a kicking horse coffee, and pop into town to do a little shopping. We picked up a few knickknacks a long the way, and decided the weather wasn't much clearer so why not head to Arrowhead Brewing for a pint. We walked in, and the atmosphere to this place is fantastic. It's got couches, swag, the brewery itself, and sick music. The red haired girl behind the bar so friendly. The blonde not so much. We wanted a taster rack, but this place works a bit different then others. They preselect your choices, and you can only choose 2 to add to your flight from a list they have marked on the beer menu. We weren't particularly fond of this ,as we have been spoiled at all other breweries by getting to choose what we like, and didn't really want to waste money trying beers we knew we wouldn't. We just went with the best bet which was to order a pint of IPA. You can rarely go wrong with an IPA. This place was bumping busy. When we got up to leave it was packed. Good beer, good tunes, what else could you want. So we picked up a bit of swag on our way out, and decided Jumbo Pass was off the list for that day.

We decided to head out, and check out Radium BC. Since we had already had a beer we decided why not keep it going. We tried out the Horsethief Pub in Radium while we mulled over what we were going to do next. This place was fantastic. The food was good, they had local Fernie beer on tap, and the staff was so friendly it was hard not to spend all day there. We decided a hike was in the cards, but it was now getting to be around 2 pm. We had to come up with something quick. We thought the visitors center that is literally steps away was a good place to start. The people there were great. They pulled out a map told us of the great spots, and in particularly the good places to go on a smoky day. So we settled on The Juniper Trail, and Sinclair Canyon. The staff gave us great directions, but on our way we saw a sign for Juniper Trail and turned there instead. Well what we didn't know was this was the hard way lol. We ended up doing the trail backwards and instead of 200m of elevation gain we did 850m... oops!! The trail was still gorgeous though. We started off in Sinclair Canyon where you can check out a neat waterfall. We then took quite a few switchbacks for great views of Radium, and Invermere in the smoky distance. From the very top you can see the highway, and another trail/camping area, as well as Radium Hot Springs Facilities to the left. The walk back to our vehicles was also pretty. Walking along the highway back to our vehicles beside the creek, we were interrupted by a large herd of Mountain Sheep!! They decided to cross the highway a mere few meters from where we were walking. Check out our Instagram for the video of them. The babies were so adorable. Such a great way to end our little afternoon hike. After our long day of 2 smaller hikes, and beers we decided we should check out panorama and hopefully find a place to camp. Preferably close to Jumbo Pass.

Sinclair Canyon Waterfall

We headed back through Invermere to go up towards Panorama Resort and check it out. The drive up was so beautiful. You are basically beside a lovely creek the entire way up, and drive by a nice recreation spot called Lillian Lakes. Lillian Lakes would be a perfect spot to spend the day. The sites are nice and spacious, but there are only a few so you wouldn't be crowded. We drove a fair ways after Lillian lakes until we reached the famous Panorama Resort. What a beauty this place it is to behold. The condos look immaculate, the mountain itself is just begging you to come mountain bike, and it had just started to get a bit of a dusting of snow on the top when we drove through. This little resort is so nice in the way that it has a pub, a restaurant, and a grocery store. So you don't have to venture far away from your beautiful get away. Some of the houses built there were HUGE! We just did a quick cruise through because we needed to find a place to camp, and eat before dark. After leaving Panorama Resort we noticed that quite a few people had their rigs set up for camping right in the big gravel parking lot. We were hoping to find a place closer to Jumbo so kept on driving. What a great decision that was. Along that Toby Creek Rd there was ample off road camping that was great! We lucked out with an absolutely gorgeous spot right beside the creek!! It was off the road far enough for it to be quiet but super close to be back on the road in seconds to get to Jumbo in the morning. We set up camp, and headed to bed pretty early after some munchies. It had been a full day of hot springs, beer, and exploring. (Continued below) Our Next day awaits...

Our Free Campsite!

Day 3: It had rained during the night, so we woke up a bit stiff. We were really missing the hot springs, but the old tent had kept us dry. We had a quick breakfast, and were hoping the incoming clouds would pass by the time we got up the trailhead. Unfortunately, the closer we got to the trailhead the worse the weather became. After about 5 km we decided to turn back due to heavy rain, and so much fog we could barely see around us. We were all a bit disappointed, but decided to spend our last day in the East Kootenays checking out Kimberly BC instead. We were so glad we did! Driving through the rainstorm into this little gem of a community was wonderful. We were welcomed into town by a beautiful mule deer buck walking through a church parking lot. We arrived pretty early so all the little stores were just opening up. We walked through all those little stores, and the people in Kimberly were the nicest we had met on our little East Kootenay adventure. After browsing all the shops, and picking up a few trinkets we decided it was that time again. Beer O'clock. This town has the best little brewery you ever did see. Or that we have seen anyways. Overtime Beerworks has not 1 taster rack option but 3, and you get to choose whichever or all of the beer to try. Winning!!They've got sick swag in one corner, and they also have this amazing game there called Joking Hazard(not for those who are easily offended). We chose the option of trying all 7 beers. Keep in mind when we do these brew tours one of us DD's...the bonus of having a lot of sisters. Their IPA was one of the best we've ever had, and we've had a lot. It is called Present IPA, and it keeps you enjoying every moment of the present with every sip. We played the game for about an hour, bought an extra pint, and got a growler to go because that stuff was too good to not take home. We did one more loop of Kimberly and may or may not have had some IPA beside the fountain because hey were on @kootenay.time We did not want to leave Kimberly...ever. This place has a warm little home in our hearts, and we will definitely be back.

After our Kimberly adventures we slowly made our way back to the place we call home the West Kootenays. We returned to a smoky sky but we had fuller hearts. What was originally planned as a peak bagging beer tasting adventure turned into exploring little communities, small hikes, and brew tours due to weather. We were happy just the same. We have attached links to all the breweries so you can check them out, and the hikes will be posted in the next few days. Feel free to follow us on Instagram to view all of our adventures in the moment. Cheers!

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