Kootenay Road Trip 2020 Scenes: The Sun Comes Out in Fernie!

In Fernie we were treated to two days of unseasonably cold and wet weather. Huddled in our small travel trailer we were keenly aware when the temperature dipped below zero one night. And was that a snowflake we saw?

Bad weather doesn’t last forever, of course. And when the skies cleared and the sun returned we were treated to a beautiful sight: the high mountains surrounding Fernie with a dusting of snow. Odd how fall colors below and a little snow above can be so pleasing to the human eye.

In this shot, we are once again looking across the Elk River toward Three Sisters — standing in almost the same spot as we took yesterday’s photo, actually. Only this time you can see the mountains bathed in the warm light of sunrise.

I’m not sure which light I like better — the cool light of a rainy day or the warm glow of a sunrise. How about you? Which do you prefer?

Kootenay Road Trip 2020 Scenes: Welcome to Fernie…Welcome to Mountains and Colors!

In Fernie we discovered the scenery we had come to the Kootenays for. That’s not to say the other places we visited didn’t have beautiful scenery — they obviously did and we loved them. But in Fernie we finally found ourselves surrounded by rugged, high mountains and — yes! — fall colors much farther along than anywhere else.

We must have looked a little strange, standing with our mouths hanging open and staring at the mountains and colors. Can you blame us? Even when we had two days of rain and cold the scenery was still beautiful. Sometimes in the rain it was even more beautiful, as the sun occasionally poked through the clouds and made short-lived patterns on the dappled hillsides.

It would be too much to show you all of the photos we took of the mountains, though I’d love to. I’m afraid you’d get bored and start looking for Instagram accounts featuring cats or hedgehogs or something. Instead, I’ll bring you a few mountain images over the next few days…and maybe a couple of non-mountain images as a bonus.

Today we have a view across the Elk River toward the Three Sisters…though the sisters are shrouded in mist on a day that turned decidedly dark and rainy. You know what they say, though: for photographers, bad weather is good weather. Couldn’t agree more.

Kootenay Road Trip 2020 Scenes: A Quick Trip to Yahk

How could you not make a day trip to a place named Yahk? All the tourist guides in Creston spoke glowingly of the small community a few kilometres down the road, extolling virtues that included ice cream, soap and…goats? So yeah, we had to check it out.

As advertised, it didn’t take long to drive from Creston to Yahk. We were only slowed slightly by a stop to show off our canoe at a mandatory watercraft inspection station (one of a dozen such stops on this trip).

Upon arriving in Yahk, however, I was dismayed to discover that Two Scoop Steve, the local ice cream shop the guides spoke of in such glowing terms, was closed for the season. Why, @twoscoopsteveinyahk? Why did you have to close just 11 days before we visited? (OK, you talked me into it…we’ll come back when you’re open!)

Thankfully the Yahk Soap and Candle Co (@yahksoap) was open next door and filled with lovely smelling soaps, lotions, candles and other goodies. We poked around the store following the usual COVID-19 precautions and concluded it was a delightful place. I’d like to say we left empty handed…but that wouldn’t be true. Our hands were full and, as a bonus, very clean.

Outside the soap store we found the goats advertised in the tourist materials. We could see three of them and while they weren’t lounging on the shop roof as they apparently sometimes do, they did trot to the fence hoping for tasty treats. Sadly, we didn’t have any to share. But I did take some photos, including the one at the top of this post (that’s Toot the goat, if you’re curious).

Our lust for commerce exhausted we checked out the rest of Yahk, including the compact but very nice Yahk Provincial Park and the Horny Owl Saloon in the old hotel (which was closed and appears to be undergoing renovations).

A neat little side trip. Check out Yahk and buy some soap and ice cream…if your timing is better than ours!

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