Greenwood to Christina Lake

June 5, 2014

Woke up at 5am and noticed a little frost on the red tin roof across from us this morning. The grass was a little wet but no crunchiness as I walked across it in my bare feet to the bathroom from my tent. Nothing but beautiful clear blue skies above me. The touring cyclist who just arrived recently from Austrailia and Karin were still sound asleep in their tents. Time to make some coffee! Ahhh!!! I guess the sound of my stumbling around woke my touring companions up. Time to get going anyhow. Karin's contstant hunger drives her out of the tent to find something to eat for breakfast and Joe, we will call him Joe, made a break for the bathroom. Before you know it breakfast was cooked, tents dismantled and equipment stored in our panniers. It was interesting talking to Joe because he just finished 6 months touring Auz and New Zealand and had some unique ways to solve some of the potential problems plagued by the long distance tourer. The one I liked most was using straps around the panniers and racks to hold them tight and keep from breaking off the hooks. The other side benifit was keeping snatch and grap thieves from quickly taking the bags off. I'm going to make some up when back in Nelson.

The ride between Greenwood and Grand Forks was fresh and damp with a crispness in the air and a big, blue cloudless sky. within an hour the heat was cranked up and you could smell the pine forest around you.

Coming down into Grand Forks was something I was looking forward to. A 10k stretch of down hill that keeps your speed around 40k. This was ruined by a swirling head wind that threatened to push you to the left into the car lane. So it was a white nuckled ride all the way to the bottom.

Everything is so green this time of year. The leaves are fresh on the trees and the grass covering the valleys and mountainsides is vivid. I don't think I would be writing about colors in this way if it was cloudy and raining. We have been so lucky.

It was a short 19k to Christina Lake from Grand Forks where we stopped at the day use area for a swim. Yes I did say swim. The water was warmer than Kootenay lake in mid summer. A great way to finish the day's ride off.