West Kootenay: One If By Mountain, Two If By Lake

The road to the western part of Kootenay Lake was long and treacherous: we drove and passed countless numbers of mountains and sharp curves leading to the region.  Our car was in the constant motion of climbing up, rolling down, shifting left, and shifting right. If I had one song in my mind to describe my trip traversing through the Western Cordillera, I hope somebody could "Shake It Off" all those mountains.

Kootenay Lake in the early morning

The West Kootenay region is named after the region's own Kootenay Lake. It is situated in the Columbia mountains near the shared boundaries of British Columbia, Washington, and Idaho. The region draws visitors from all over the places every year, albeit its remote location (about a 9 hours drive from Vancouver and 7 hours from Calgary). In order to reach the West Kootenay, one must prepare himself / herself to overcome all sorts of obstacles: from sky high mountains that can thwart the fiercest horse , to gigantic lakes which no tree was tall enough to fall down as a bridge to let you pass.  The journey to the West Kootenay is a nutshell version of what one's journey of life is all about: You have to conquer the obstacles first before you see the very best.

Downtown Nelson

Nelson is the region's largest city with approximately 10,000 residents. Once a mining town with lots of prosperity due to the region's rich deposit of gold, today if you ever try to sell local Nelson residents the economic benefits of mining, chances are you will make no friends in the city. Over the years Nelson has transformed itself from a settlement only for gold diggers to a center of Bohemian culture that attracts hippies and vagabonds from all over the country.

Baker Street is the main street in Nelson where you can find interesting shops and local arts

Along Nelson's Baker Street, it wasn't hard to find well-maintained old buildings and art pieces that gave the town a sense of new life. Most of the businesses there were owned by the locals, from fashion boutiques to delicate coffee shops. Many shops claimed that their products were fair traded and exploitation free. There were a couple of shops I found extremely interesting: One leather good store sells used and new products all together which could get some big city customers like us very confusing. There are many stores specializing in products from India and Nepal, although Nelson is very far away from India and the city doesn't even have a sizable Indian or Nepalese community (mostly driven by the Yoga and Bohemian culture). One of the stores even had two price tags for the same product - that is, if you can't afford or doesn't want to pay the higher price, you can choose to pay the lower price, or any price in between the higher and the lower price.

"Love of Shiva", a Bohemian themed store that specializes in imports from India and Nepal

Waterfront Nelson is a very different scene from the Baker Street Downtown area. Gigantic parking lots one would expect to see in big city suburbs appear. Big chain supermarkets and restaurants welcome shoppers from the entire West Kootenay region. I even saw a world class resort hotel with a marina not far away from the shopping center. My first impression of Nelson was that the people over there seemed to be the type of shoppers who would boycott and even protest against the establishment of these big stores. Apparently I was wrong. When I asked a local girl who dressed up like a typical 1960s hippie where the nearest supermarket was, she gladly pointed me the direction to a Walmart.  Gently surprised, I thought the city of Nelson has redefined the meaning of Nikita Khrushchev term "peaceful co-existence". 

 

Baker Street

The primary reason why our family picked West Kootenay as a vacation destination is because of Ainsworth Hot Springs, which is located right on the shore of the Kootenay Lake. The site of the Hot Springs was once a gold mine. When the miners were digging the tunnel into the mountain, they found hot springs permeating through the rocks into the tunnel. Today the tunnel has become a hot spring cave and is perhaps the only place on earth where people can soak into a natural hot springs in a cave. 

the hot spring cave at Ainsworth Hot Springs

Along the west shore of Kootenay Lake, I saw cabins decorating the landscape like how stars scattering across the galaxy. Yet on the east shore, it was the high peaks that dominated the skyline with snow at their tips under the May sun. I found tranquility in both the wild east and the civilized west of the Kootenay Lake.

North of the Ainsworth Hot Springs is a small town called Kaslo. One morning we woke up really early. So we decided that we were driving to Kaslo to find a place for breakfast. By the time we reached the town, it was barely 7 o'clock. The entire town of Kaslo was empty, which gave me the feeling that I was in a movie set instead of a real town.

Downtown Kaslo

At the Kaslo waterfront, there stood a historic ferry boat that once served the Kootenay region by transporting people across the shores of the Kootenay Lake. There was also a shipyard where ships were once built and serviced. Back in the days, people had to build railroads into the water so the ships could be slid straight into the lake. All the historical artifacts kept and maintained by the people of Kaslo instantly brought me back to the days when people used to travel on a wagon and policemen chasing down the criminals on a horse.

Kaslo Waterfront, the ferry boat on the right is now a museum

When the clock hit 7 o' clock sharp. People began to come out of the buildings. We visited a small, family run restaurant in the town center for our breakfast. As we sat down and waiting for our orders, people started to fill up the place and eventually not a single spot in the restaurant was left. After talking the the owner of the restaurant, I found out that we were in the middle of Kaslo's May Long Festivial, an annual Kaslo tradition that's been held for over 120 years celebrating the history and the heritage of the Kootenay Region. When we finished our breakfast and got out of the restaurant, the town became lively with classic cars parking along the main street and the roaring sound of Harley Davidsons blasting from somewhere two blocks away (unfortunately I never got the chance to experience the May Long Festival, which gives me a reason to return to Kaslo in the future).

Kaslo, BC

Mountains and lakes indeed made the West Kootenay region relatively hard to reach, but it was the same mountains and lakes that kept the region's unique cultures and traditions alive and well. West Kootenay today as a popular vacation destination  indeed blends and resonates well  with its history as a booming mining center: If there is a gem hidden somewhere, people will find it.