Planning to bike the Selkirk Loop this year ( early May or September). If practical, I'll be leaving from the Spokane airport (and returning there) and would appreciate any northward route suggestions to Castlegar and any other Loop info. (camping, spots not to be missed, etc.) . The tidbits of info I've learned from avid, knowledgeable tourers on this site has added to the enjoyment of my past tours.

Don't miss out on the Mac-n-cheese at Sweet Lou's in Sandpoint, ID or the great goodies at the Bread Basket Bakery.


There are a lot of campgrounds. Nelson City Campground is an "experience and Kokanee Creek Provincial Park has a nice campground, where we also had an experience.


Kokanee Provincial Park. This fellow walked right through our campsite on his way down to the river.


I have not ridden from Spokane to Priest River (about 60 mi.), but I believe ACA's Northern Tier Route is on Highway 2 in that area.

Unless ACA has changed the routing, the NT uses the minor roads on the south side of the river between Newport and U.S. 95 because U.S. 2 was hairy, with little or no shoulder in places. The first time I rode in that area I took U.S. 2 and regretted it dearly. Once you get to Sagle there is a bike path that takes you into Sandpont via the old U.S. 95 causeway across the lake.

I have done this. One of the best tours I have ever done. There was so little traffic it was almost like being on a bike path (except for the logging trucks ).

Be sure to set aside a day for the Gelena Trail in New Denver. You could incorporate it into your route if you have a proper touring bike (I had a road bike at the time) but the trail is a bit rough and would be a bit difficult with bags especially on the transit

Be sure to sit down in the car and don't be a dummy like my buddy. There was a video on youtube of a woman that was standing and waving. The clip ended when she fell out of the car and was hanging on the cable.

Some more pics. The area is beautiful. Towns are close enough that you don't need to camp, if you don't want to.

I am jealous. On the whole tour all we saw was one mangy coyote and a couple of deer. The deer were close enough to touch.

When we were climbing up to New Denver there was a touring cyclist coming down the hill. He warned us about the bear in town. He told us a bear had come into town a ripped a man's arm off!

When we departed, I got out my whistle. I think I blew that thing every 10 feet. No bear was going to rip my arm off! If I could help it.

We got into town and the lady that runs the cabins where we were staying that night was not there. She finally showed and apologized for being late. She said her husband was in the hospital. I asked if he was the one attacked by the bear. She said no, her husband was clearing trail for his ski businesses. A tree fell on him and crushed his pelvis. Luckily his friend was a paramedic. He assessed his injuries and determined while it was serious not immediately life threatening. He had to hike back down to the road and then drive into town where he could get cell service. The man with the crushed pelvis was under that tree for 4 hours! Those had to be the longest 4 ours of his life. Rescue had to long line him out from a helicopter.

The lady said her husband had a lot of discomfort but was fine. I asked about the bear and the man that was attached. She said, oh that bear. He comes into town all of the time. A man was walking his dog and the dog took after the bear. The bear took a swipe at the dog, so the man punched the bear in the face. The bear bite the man on the arm. The man had to go to the infirmary for some stitches. So much for an arm being ripped off.


The only sign I saw of that bear was the mess he created in that poor ladies yard when he tore up the garbage. We tried to clean up as much as we could. She already had other problems to deal with.

You’re coming in to my stomping grounds!
I’ll just mention Three spots.
1) Near Balfour (east of Nelson) there’s the Ainsworth Hotsprings. The old dammed tunnel loop through the rocks makes this stop worthwhile.
2) the municipal campground in either Silverton or NewDenver on Slocan Lake is spectacular.
3) Take a bit of a side tour to go through Rossland and cross at Patterson/Frontier. Cool small mountain city - decent campground. And on the US side take the Northport Flatcreek Road for great views and almost no traffic until you get to Kettle Falls. Easy to avoid much traffic even there by hitting backroads.

PS if you want to see bears just check my back yard!

Not to get off track, but this story makes me think of the two days I spent in a relatively remote corner of NW Montana last year. No cell service whatsoever. Mostly nothing but national forest around and ome fly speck of a "town." The nearest hospital appears to be in Bonners Ferry, ID, some 51 miles away. I remember thinking that if something like the above (or a heart attack or stroke) happens to you in a area like that you could be S.O.L.

I passed right by Ainsworth Hotsprings. I don't remember seeing a tunnel. Is it off the main road?

We were going to stop at the hot springs for a soak but my buddy had just flipped over his handlebars (log story). He had various wounds including a puncture wound in his abdomen, so we thought it best to continue on to Kalso.


The ferry ride from Kootney Bay was a lot of fun. And free!

Too bad you missed it. You access the hot water filled tunnels within the hotsprings grounds. They are the source of the hot water for the pools. But probably not a good stop for a guy with a puncture wound to his abdomen!

Yeah, on a beautiful day that free ferry ride is hard to beat!

Oh ok a people tunnel. Yes I remember seeing that from the road. Sort of like caves and such where the springs are.

The hostel at Nelson is absolutely beautiful. Unbelievably neat and clean too. There is another hostel just outside of Nelson. It was sort of in the middle of nowhere. But I don't remember exactly where. Somewhere between New Denver and Nelson.

And Mountain Mitch, isn't there a bike trail on the way to Nelson? Not that you really need it, the traffic is so light on those roads (at least in September).


Also there is a fantastic motel just outside of Metaline Falls. It was newly remodeled when I was there a few years ago. Most comfortable bed I ever slept in. Downside is there are no restaurants nearby. You will have to go into town for dinner. The climb back up the hill is not too awful bad. The worse part for me was it was pitch black on the way back with no moon. I was concerned we might bump into a bear.

I think you’re probably referring to the ‘rails to trails’ down the Slocan River valley Slocan Valley Rail Trail between Slocan City and South Slocan.

Your post also reminded me that the o/p said he’d tour here either May or September. We are having the winter without end here. Snowed again today. At least a metre still on the ground. We are going travelling for a month and expect to return to find only ‘a bit’ of snow left - but it’s one of those years! September might be the better choice.

Syringa provincial park at Castlegar is great.
The Lions head pub on the road to Syringa is a good place to eat.

Yep that is it. I don't know how I missed it when I was out there. What is the trail surface like? As I mentioned before the road was just fine. Really no need for a bike trail.


Looks like there is another south of Nelson.

Boswell Embalming Bottle House in Sanca, British Columbia. Sounds weird, but it was pretty interesting.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/...g-bottle-house