If at first you can't go straight through a mountain range, conventional wisdom dictates you should probably go around it.
But where's the fun in that?
Phil Budiselich and Ed Bell, two friends looking for a little adventure, crossed over the Selkirk Mountain range on a trip to Kootenay Lake with their Suzuki dual sport motorbikes on a late July weekend. The duo used forestry roads over the Gray Creek Pass to make it to the east side of Kootenay Lake, where the goal was to go off-road riding along the shoreline, heading north and looping around to the highway on the west side.
Budiselich has been riding motorbikes for 30 years, ever since he was a young kid, and moved to streetbikes when he reached his late teens. Recently the lure of off-road riding enticed him and he bought the dual sport bike and got back into it.
They eventually hit the east side and rode approximately 20 kilometres past Riondel where the road turns to dirt and gravel—and continued until the terrain became too rough and hazardous.
"There'd be no trail, the mountain would just go right into the lake," said Budiselich.
They pondered their predicament, trying to come up with a way to bypass the terrain and decided to camp for the night near Powder Creek. The next day they backtracked to Kootenay Bay and took the ferry across to Balfour, then headed up Highway 31, stopping in Kaslo for supplies and in Mirror Lake to visit friends.
Eventually they reached the top of Kootenay Lake, camped at Glacier Creek Park and prepared to have more success going south down the shore than they had coming north. Before making the attempt, the duo detoured over to Mount Lavina and rode up to the lookout at the top.
"The view was amazing and it was quite a climb," Budiselich said. "It was hard work to get the bikes up."
After descending, they headed to Argenta and made it all the way to Fry Creek before the trails became impassible. The two thought of hiring a boat to take them around to where they camped near Powder Creek but there was nothing big enough to take both bikes and gear.
Beaten by the rugged terrain, the two headed back around the lake to Balfour and crossed over to Kootenay Bay and made their way back home.
Despite being unable to accomplish their goal of completing the loop, the two saw new country and passed through communities they'd never been to before.
"We didn't know what was there, it's so far out of the way," said Budiselich.
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