THE KOOTENAYS - British Columbia: Including the Alaska Highway - page 416

feet). With no roads, the most popular access is by boat from New Denver or Slocan, across
the lake. An eight-kilometer (five-mile) lakeshore trail also connects Slocan with the west
shore. There, hiking trails lead into the heart of the park. The most rewarding and popular
is the Beatrice Lake Trail, 12.5 kilometers (7.8 miles) each way. As with all trails starting
from the lake, elevation gain is steady; you'll climb just under 1,000 vertical meters (3,280
feet) as you pass Little Cahill and Cahill Lakes and enter the massive cirque in which Beat-
rice Lake lies.
MM Sandon
The original Slocan Valley boomtown, Sandon was once a thriving town of 5,000 people.
After the discovery of silver on the slopes of Idaho Peak, Sandon grew quickly, and at one
time boasted 24 hotels, 23 saloons, banks, general stores, mining brokers' offices, and a
newspaper. Sandon was destroyed by fire in 1902 but quickly rebuilt and incorporated as a
city in 1908. The town remained the “soul of the Silvery Slocan” until the spring of 1955.
That year the creek running through town flooded, sweeping away most of the city and
leaving a ghost town. Today you can count the population on two hands.
The best place to start a visit to Sandon is the 1900 city hall, where the Sandon Walking
Tour Guide is sold. The brochure details all the original structures—only a fraction of
which remain—with a map that makes exploring on foot more enjoyable. Up the creek from
city hall is Sandon Museum (250/358-7920, 10am-5pm daily June-mid-Oct., adult $4.50,
senior and child $3.50), where exhibits bring the old town back to life. Also on this side
of the creek is the road to 2,280-meter (7,480-foot) Idaho Peak. The road is very rough,
passable only in July and August. From the end of the 12-kilometer (7.5-mile) road, a steep
one-kilometer (0.6-mile) trail leads to the summit and spectacular 360-degree views of the
Kootenays.
VALHALLA WILDERNESS SOCIETY
Originally founded in the 1970s to lobby for the establishment of Valhalla Provincial
Park, the Valhalla Wilderness Society was instrumental in convincing the BC gov-
ernment to designate the Khutzeymateen Valley, north of Prince Rupert, as Canada's
first grizzly bear sanctuary. Closer to home, the organization also successfully cam-
paigned for the creation of the White Grizzly Wilderness. Its latest successful crusade
was for protection for the habitat of the Kermode bear in the north of the province,