Hey Mark... didn't see you. Maybe you left the campground before we went through. Took the flatlanders up Hall Mountain where they could get a view. Also caught a heavily loaded KLR; man with young son wandering hither and yon across the continent. Something like this: As a point of interest, met a real retard on my way out - doing over 100 down that heavily used road, trying to drift his car sideways around the tight corners near Beemsterboer's farm, etc. Drunk, drugs, or somebody with delusions of being a rally competitor, doesn't really matter. Just a head's up to everyone that with the active logging on the main FSR and the lower part of the Redding Creek FSR, along with the retards driving like this guy was, this is a road where you treat blind corners with caution.
Will certainly take you up on your offer next year Jäger ....if its still on Will return with the klr instead of the strom My brother and I left the campground at 8am Nice cool temps over the pass Got to Gray Creek Store by noon. Stopped for lots of pics along the way Staying at Riondel campground for a few nights and exploring a bit around Kootenay Bay
The 'whelming' part was when the only route was the powerline access "road". It didn't gain as much elevation but the west side was, what word should I use, rugged. yeah, that's it, RUGGED! Now it's logging road that that a has few rough, loose sections and may have slides or washouts. And then there's the annual "When is it open?".
That was just part of the ride. We came from Vernon along Hwy 6, which is always a good ride, over the Balfour Ferry to Gray Creek. Once through Cranbrook, along 3 to Creston/Salmo, Nelson, up 6 to Slocan, New Denver, Nakusp and back to Vernon. The weather was great, the roads were relatively clear of much traffic.
If you are looking for a little more challenge I did the Applegrove/Passmore powerline pass the other week. On the Farquier side head south to Applegrove, then go up up up the powerline road to the top (Start at 500m, climb to 2,000m), then take the quad trail down towards Passmore. Once at the bottom I angled back up towards Slocan/New Denver and then across to Kaslo. This is about 3/4 the way up. You can see a peak across Upper Arrow lake (about 1500m below). It was so smokey you can't see the lake below and barely make out the peak above Edgewood. This is after the peak and the steep pitch down at the top. I found some shade to cool off. The track for that day with the pass highlighted and elevation profile to match. And an spooky shot at Little Slocan Lake...not it is about 1:30 in the afternoon in this photo.
"then take the quad trail down towards Passmore" - that would be the powerline access road. East to West is slightly easier IMHO. Too bad about the smoke obscuring the vistas. Was heading down toward Passmore generally in "good" shape? It's been a few years since I've been over that one.
Heading down to Passmore was as I remember from doing it back in 2009. Doable on a big bike. So probable "good" shape. I agree, East to West is probably better. I always find it easier to be climbing in rough stuff as opposed to going down it. The one steep section near the top when you come off the valley is probably the most challenging and nerve racking with the massive drop on the south side. But it is doable. Just rocky, steep, and loose.
Wow! this thread has been dormant for over three years? Let's correct that now. Planning on heading to HUBB in July and I'd like to take the Grey Creek road; any recent intel from inmates?
Not to throw shade on anyone's ride (and I've been going over the Redding Creek Pass for over 50 years now), but for riders passing through this area, there's better eye candy in the East Kootenays than Redding Creek (now known as Grey Creek since the Philistines working for the provincial government renamed it for the last few miles of the route on the west side that is Grey Creek). If it's your alternative to slabbing it from Kimberley to the West Kootenays, riding the lake country over on the west side, sure. But if you're heading that way, adding side rides up to the Hall Mountain comms site, White Boar, etc make it more worthwhile. Last couple of guys I bumped into in Marysville I suggested they overnight up on top of Hall Mountain before continuing on over Redding Creek. Got an email from them a few days later raving about overnighting on top of Hall Mountain - you can see all the way north almost to the Bugs from on top on a clear day. I do go over once in a while during most summers mostly to have breakfast on the other side, but there's better to be had around here. Really does come down to where are you coming from/where are you going to, how much time do you have to spend in the area, etc.
@Jaeger 1, thanks for your suggestions and for the history lesson. I’ve only known it as Grey Ck (maybe the name was changed to honour the old “welcome to Grey Creek, metric free zone” sign?). You are correct in that I’m just looking to avoid Cranbrook to Creston when hurrying to Nakusp on Friday. Monday however I should have more time for exploring. I’d be grateful for for any recommendations for improving my route home. And for any history lessons.
Depends on where you're going to and from. And how long you have to lurk in the Kimberley/Cranbrook area. But if you only have a bit of time to spend while actually on the St. Maries/Redding Creek route, there's Hall Mountain and White Boar. Or Rose Pass if you're infected with a touch of madness and want to give it a go; I am not going in there again unless I'm on somebody's borrowed quad - back in the day, it was Redding Creek that was sketchy, Rose Pass was a walk in the park in the VW Beetle. Alternately, you can simply wander further up the St Maries west fork, Dewar Creek, or White Creek.
Psssttttt.... it's actually Redding Creek. We let the people in the Weird Kootenays on the lake side of the pass call it "Grey Creek" or "Gray Creek" if it makes them feel better. In fact, the summit is nowhere near Gray Creek (unless you're taking the less travelled original route, in which case the actual pass is around 11 U 525326 5495980, that little saddle at the top). On the more normally used route i.e. the one guys drag their trailers and fishing boats over, only the last 6.5 km of the road follows Gray Creek. If you stick to the original powerline road route, you get to add another 5 km to that - about 11 or 12 km along Gray Creek. On a trip from the slab on the east side to the slab on the west side that's about 90 km in length... Back in the 60's and early 70's when I was first going over Redding Creek, everybody called it Redding Creek, and mostly it was C.M.&S employees who were on that road, and you weren't likely to make it over unless you had a Willies or other serious 4x4 or a Yamaha DT enduro bike. But then the C.M&S became Cominco, and quads were invented, and most times of the year an ordinary pickup could travel most or all of the road. And now the government offices that were here in Cranbrook have been moved to the much smaller village of Nelson in the Weird Kootenays, Cominco is now Teck, and Redding Creek has been renamed Gray Creek. Including at the Marysville end of the road - many miles away, and nowhere near the Weird Kootenays. The good news is that there's fewer and fewer of us every year who have been travelling that road for 50+ years. Won't take long before there will only be youngsters left who don't know it was called "Redding Creek" for many decades before it was renamed "Gray Creek".
My intent was merely to correct the spelling. :) It's the name of the pass that has been monkeyed with. Redding Creek is still Redding Creek. And yes, the name of the Pass over the new route should be Redding. Gray was a war hero, I'd have to do some research on the particulars. The building housing the Post Office in Nelson is named Gray as are some peaks in Kootenay Glacier Park as well as the creek on the East shore.
I'm not offended or bothered; but it will never be anything but Redding Creek for me. Gray, if my military memory serves me, was originally from Nelson. Brilliant fighter pilot, who was killed in the last day(s) of the war with Japan attacking a Japanese ship. I'm not sure if he was flying for Canada or the Brits - if I recall the painting of the action he was killed in by the famous war artist, it depicts him flying a Corsair. His brother was also killed in WWII, that's about all I know about him. Gray was the last Canadian to win the Victoria Cross. The mountain in Kokanee named for one or both of them is the one shown on the Kokanee beer label.
Here you go, now that my military mind is engaged. I also recall that the Japanese were sufficiently impressed by the courage of the attack that they erected some kind of monument to Gray's courage.
There is a Corsair, painted to commemorate his aircraft and Squadron in Gatineau. Very nice amuseum. http://www.vintagewings.ca/Aircraft...bert-Hampton-Gray-Goodyear-FG-1D-Corsair.aspx
