Rossland, BC

Jonas and Anna have owned a small house up in Rossland, BC, for the last few years. Unfortunately, they decided to sell it this Summer so, before the new owners moved in, I joined them for a quick bike vacation up there. I drove up right after work on Saturday, arriving at about 4am when it is already light out so far North. I had a quick nap, then we went exploring the trail system on Red Mountain. The town of Rossland is very quiet in the Summer. I think most people visit here for the skiing in the Winter. We happened to be there on Canada Day, so most businesses were closed for a few days. There are no traffic lights in town, and only one small, expensive grocery store. But it is also known as the mountain bike capital of BC. The trails are definitely challenging, and are more technical than most of the singletrack back in Oregon. There is even a skills park in the middle of town for folks to practice riding skinnies and teeter-totters and wall-rides and tabletops.



We packed in many kilometers of riding in the next few days, including an epic trip up to Nelson, about an hour to the North. The folks at the shop in town suggested we ride Paper Bag, a classic ride in this area. There are steep slabs of granite and long ribbons of continuous rock to ride, plus the occasional man-made feature off to the side. The weather was pretty hot. I don't remember sweating so much while riding. I was soaked more so than I had ever been in Moab or even in Baja! Maybe it was because of all the lush trees and flowers and the lower elevation. The country up here is beautiful, with steep canyons and dense forests and scree fields and tons of wildlife. We never saw any bears, but saw their tracks and scat quite frequently.



The snow was melting pretty quickly on the higher peaks, and by the last day of our trip we were able to ride the entire Seven Summits Trail. We trudged through a few snowbanks, but it was another clear and sunny day and we could follow the trail pretty easily. This route is one of IMBA's Epic Rides, and you can see why with stunning views off both sides of the ridges that connect these peaks. We rode to the trailhead from town, then added a bonus descent down the Dewdney Trail at the end of the route. We were barely able to walk all the way to the fridge to finish off the Deschutes beer we had brought with us. Certainly packed in a bunch of rides that week...