I had a big breakfast at "The Hungry Wolf Café". I was slow leaving the restaurant this morning and my legs were killing me all day. I spotted two more mule deer along the road. I climbed a large hill after Slocan for an excellent view of the lake and village below. I watched an Osprey circle below me. A little farther up the hill I ran into another German headed in the opposite direction. He was part of a larger group hiking and biking its way through the American and Canadian Rockies as part of a "school-on-the-road". He asked me about the route ahead and the Kettle Valley railway.

I descended from that climb into the old mining towns of Silverton and New Denver. Some of the old stores had been fixed up and turned into art galleries, pottery stores, cafes, and tourist shops. The towns were interesting, but I didn't have the time to explore them further. I stopped in New Denver for lunch at a café (The Appletree Café, I think). Good grilled sandwiches and cappuccino. Some tree planters were openly smoking dope on the bench in front of the café, right on the town's main street. Ah, the old west-coast stereotype, reinforced yet again….

I tackled my second big climb of the day after New Denver. I took some excellent photos of the lake and mountains opposite shrouded in low-lying clouds and capped with late snow.

I descended into Nakusp around suppertime. There wasn't much to look at in town, so I got directions for the Nakusp campsite/hot springs and headed out. I was told it was at the end of a very steep 12km climb, which I wasn't looking forward to. I spotted a campground just before the turnoff for the springs and decided to forego the hot springs in exchange for an early end to my day. The attendant was nowhere in sight, so I pitched my tent, showered, and had supper. A short day's bike ride and an early night's rest.

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