The Elbow Valley Cycle Club offers this trip on the understanding it is a Common Adventure where each participant conducts him/herself independently, makes his/her own judgements about safety and well being, takes full responsibility for his/her own actions, and contributes whatever he/she can towards the success of the trip. The Tour Co-Ordinator is not a leader or professional guide of any type and acts only to provide basic logistical arrangements for initiating and running the trip. The route, itinerary and all other aspects of this trip are only suggested and, as responsible tourists, each participant is expected to research everything prior to the trip to whatever extent he/she feels is necessary to determine that all is safe and suitable. Each participant is expected to possess any skills, equipment, fitness, common sense, etiquette, knowledge of applicable legislations, etc., to enjoyably and safely be involved in th is activity. Each participant is the sole and final judge about his/her capability to safely proceed with this tour. All participants recognize financial loss, physical injuries and death to be real possibities facing anyone in the sport of bicycling and related activities and agree to assume all risks and consequences. All participants agree to absolve the Elbow Valley Cycle Club, its organizers, administrators and agents of any liability arising from Club activities. Any person who does not feel confident or self reliant about their abilities or who does not agree with this philisophy should not participate on this tour.

This five day self supported cycle tour will take us over good quality forestry roads, single track hiking trail, and paved highway conditions. Riders must be prepared to carry everything they require ON their bicycles. A "hybrid" or mountain bike would be the ideal style of bicycle for this trip and must be capable of carrying panniers (unless the rider is keen to carry a back pack the entire length of the route ---> NOT recommended!). There is no luggage vehicle or sag wagon available for this tour.

Participants are advised to carry 1:50 000 topographic maps and forest district maps for forestry roads and trails. Forestry maps are available from the below mentioned Recreation Officers for their respective areas.

No money will be collected by the Tour Co-Ordinator for this tour. Participants will pay all their own expenses along the way including submitting $5 to Tour Co-ordinator as donation for Jumbo Pass hut. Jumbo donations will be forwarded to hut operator. Tour Co-Ordinator's minimal expenses incurred in setting up this tour will (hopefully) be recovered by the participants pitching in for his evening meals at Kaslo and Canal Flats.

This internet information will serve as the orientation package. No handouts will be issued. Participants may output this web page onto their own printing equipment.

Participants must bring some means of preparing meals on the trail vs. acquiring sustenance at local food purveyors as per the following table:

• Day 0 (Fri., July 30):..........Arrive at local campground/accommodation in Invermere/Panorama area. Stay overnight and prepare for an early start next morning. At the time of writing this Purcell web page (99 Feb 21), it already sounded like campground and tenting space availability in this area was going to be slim to none (this is the mid summer August long weejkend). Therefore, participants may have to camp farther afield or drive out from Calgary early in the morning of Saturday, July 31. If a decent camping site can be found between now and the start of the tour, I will post it to this page.

• Day 1 - 40km (Sat., July 31):..........Meet at Panorama Resort parking lot at 09:00 AM. Leave vehicles there for the duration of the five day trip. Permission has already been acquired from Panorama for this use of their lot. Attach panniers to bikes and set out. Have lunch on trail along either Toby Creek or Jumbo Creek roads. We may have to PUSH (aargh!) our bikes the last four kilometres on the single track hiking trail to Jumbo Pass due to its roughness and steepness. This is an adventure trip, remember? However, I have been assured by the local B.C. Forests Invermere Forest District Recreation Officer that this trail is free of deadfall as of last September (1998). Once at the pass, we may want to stash our bikes in the bush and carry our gear the last 1/2km and 100m gain to the hut. The hut sleeps 8 - 10 and will be reserved for us the night we are there. It has a propane stove for cooking, foamies, dishes, pots, pans, coleman lanterns (need white gas), and a backup coleman stove. A wood stove is also present but wood for it is not guaranteed to be present in the summer. Sorry, no showers. Fee = $5 per person, to be paid to Tour Co-Ordinator who will forward it to the local hut operators.The 1:50 000 topo map for the jumbo Pass area is 82K/7 Duncan Lake.

• Day 2 - 78km (Sun., Aug 1):..........An easy day today. We roll downhill all the way on a single track hiking trail and then the Glacier Creek forestry road to Kootenay Lake to Highway 31. We arrive on the paved road just south of the Cooper Creek hamlet. Remember this route from the Slocan Triangle tours? From here, ride south to Kaslo and take up residence for the night at the municipal campground on the peninsula extending into Kootenay Lake. Showers at the campground and restaurants in town. Fee to be individually paid to campground attendant upon arrival.

• Day 3 - 101km (Mon., Aug 2):..........It would be best to start early today. Maybe stop at Ainsworth Hot Springs soon after leaving Kaslo. We have to allow for delays with the Kootenay Lake ferry between Balfour and Crawford Bay. After that, there is the long climb up Gray Creek pass. Shall we sprint to the top on our bikes? Should participants be too fatigued to continue on from the top of the pass, there is a campground at the summit. From there, it is mostly a downhill 42km coast to St. Mary Lake. We will be staying on land privately owned by the Crestbrook Forest Industries company at the north east end of the lake. Access is through a yellow gate. If you arrive at a large concrete bridge on the forestry road, you have missed the access to the camp site. The camp will be a primitive one with no facilities. Fires are permitted depending on the local conditions and any fire bans. We had to get special written permission to stay here and it was granted to us free of charge for our bike trip. There were no other formal campsites in the area. Nope, no showers but no also fees.

• Day 4 - 96km (Tues., Aug 3):..........It is an easy flat ride from here on forestry road and then paved surface all the way to Hwy 95A at Kimberly which then has a short climb into town. We have done this section of road previously on the Kootenay Circuit Cycle Tour in 1997 and 1998. From there, it is 27km downhill, with a shoulder, all the way on 95A to the Wasa access. The rest of the day's trip is on paved Hwy's 93/95 which is generally flat, with a shoulder, all the way to Canal Flats. Camp on the bank of the Kootenay river just south of Canal Flats where it flows under the 93/95 route. There is an unofficial campsite on the west side of the highway on the north bank of the river. No showers and no fees here either.

• Day 5 - 64km (Wed., Aug 4):..........Follow the paved 93/95 highway all the way to the north end of Columbia Lake. At the north end of Columbia Lake, cross the 93/95 bridge over Dutch/Brewer Creek. Less than a kilometer past the bridge, turn left and take the "West Side" road along the west side of Windermere Lake to Invermere. This is a quieter road than 93/95. It is paved and very suitable for bicycles. Once at Invermere, take the road west to Panorama and wrap the tour. Hope you enjoyed the trip! See you on the following Kettle Valley Tour.

• BC Forests Cranbrook Forest District Recreation Officer, Neil Shuttleworth (250) 426-1717

• BC Forests Invermere Forest District Recreation Officer, Kreg Sky (250) 342-4223

• BC Forests Kootenay Lake Forest District Recreation Officer, Steve Flett (250) 825-1100

• BC Ministry of Transportation Inland Ferries (250) 387-3417

• BC Ministry of Transportation Roadway Pass Study

  BC Tourism Supernatural BC (800) 663-6000

• Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce (250) 342-2844

• Crestbrook Forest Industries Forest Planning Superintendent, Brian Dureski (250) 426-8989

• Elbow Valley Cycle Club, Calgary, Alberta

• Town of Kaslo

Click here to go to the wrap up page for the tour with trip account and photos.