THE KOOTENAYS - British Columbia: Including the Alaska Highway - page 425

NELSON TO KASLO
It's 70 kilometers (44 miles) north from Nelson to Kaslo. A number of parks and small
communities dot the route, with Kootenay Lake nearly always in view.
Kokanee Creek Provincial Park
This 257-hectare (630-acre) lakefront park 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) northeast of Nelson
features a great sandy beach and one of the Kootenays' most popular campgrounds. Short
walking trails crisscross the park, and kokanee (freshwater salmon) can be viewed in
Kokanee Creek at the end of summer (access is from the visitor center). Instead of migrat-
ing in from the ocean like their anadromous cousins, kokanee spend their lives in the lar-
ger lakes of British Columbia's interior, spawning each summer in the rivers and streams
draining into the lakes. The super-popular day-use area runs the length of a one-kilometer
(0.6-mile) sandy beach.
The large campground's sites have showers and a few have electrical hookups; regard-
less, they all fill fast through summer (May-Sept., $28-35), so make reservations through
Discover Camping (519/826-6850 or 800/689-9025, www.discovercamping.ca ) well in ad-
vance.
MM Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park
Straddling the highest peaks of the Selkirk Mountains, this 32,035-hectare (79,160-acre)
mountain wilderness park can be seen from downtown Nelson. This is one of British
Columbia's premier provincial parks, filled with magnificent scenery and abundant wildlife
and providing some unrivaled opportunities for backcountry travel. The park is named
for a massive glacier that, along with two other glaciers and 30 lakes, feeds dozens of
creeks and rivers flowing west to Slocan Lake and east to Kootenay Lake. Almost entirely
above 1,800 meters (5,900 feet), the park's environment is very different from the valley
floor—dominated by barren peaks and, for a few short weeks in the middle of summer,
meadows of lush subalpine wildflowers.
The heart of the park is too steep and rugged to be penetrated by roads, so all the best
features must be reached on foot. The main access is via an unsealed road that turns off
Highway 3A 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from Nelson and follows Kokanee Creek 16 kilo-
meters (10 miles) to Gibson Lake. A 2.5-kilometer (1.6-mile) trail circles the lake, but
the best hiking is farther afield. From Gibson Lake, it's four kilometers (2.5 miles) uphill
to beautiful Kokanee Lake. There the trail flattens out, continuing three kilometers (1.9
miles) to Kaslo Lake and a further two kilometers (1.2 miles) to Slocan Chief Cabin, a
century-old structure that sleeps 12 ($15 per person).