I left the computer running during supper. Total elapsed time biking is more like seven and a half hours.

It was damn cold this morning! I put on just about every piece of clothing I owned, packed, and made my way out to the highway. It started to warm as the day progressed, but it never reached the temperatures I had on previous days.

Blueberry-Paulson was a long, steep climb, as I had expected. I biked at a steady pace until I reached a bridge about two-thirds of the way up. I switched between walking and biking for the last third. Like Allison Pass before it, the temperature dropped with each meter gained, and there was snow and clouds to greet me at the top. At one point, it started to hail. Not hard, round hail like pellets, but soft hail that fell like snow. Again, like Allison pass, there wasn't much to see at the top. This time, there was a sign marking the summit, and an unmanned weather station. The change in weather from the valley to the mountain pass is so dramatic, they really need to monitor the weather up there. It could be sunny and 20 degrees in the valley, and heavy snow in the pass at the same time.

Just past the Summit I found a rest area. Pit toilets and no running water again, but at least it had picnic tables, so I decided to stop for lunch. I met a German cyclist there. He had left Christina Lake two hours before me and was taking a well-deserved nap. He had a lot of gear, all of it heavy and pretty low-tech: combat boots, a big honking plastic tarp, pots, pans, stove, an army water bottle and army rain gear. But who am I to judge? As long as he is having fun, who cares how he is equipped or how heavy his load is? This isn't a race, after all. It's not the destination; it's the journey.

I donned my wet weather gear over my fleece to prepare for the descent and wished him luck. I encountered a few more rolling hills, and then it was all downhill from there. A steady 40 km/h without pedaling all the way to Castlegar. Castlegar wasn't that exciting. I stopped to check my email, and had supper at the Borscht Hut. The borscht was excellent, but the cabbage rolls were not nearly as good. It rained on and off as I left Castlegar. It was getting late. I didn't find a campground until Winlaw. It was raining, cold, and dark. I was tired, and they had cabins for less than $50 a night, so I rented a cabin for the night.

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