June 25, 2024 - Kimbol Lake Hike
Ron and I hiked to Kimbol Lake (pict 1). Kimbol Lake is a small mountain lake in the West Kootenays of British Columbia, SE of the Nakusp Hot Springs. It is rated difficult because of the relentless ascent in the last 1.5-2 kms.
On the drive to the Hot Springs we stopped at the Valhalla Store in New Denver for a can of bear spray. We talked to Eric, who told us that he’d spent 4 months in Argentina the past Winter, and loved it there. He has been going to Argentina since 2017. He showed us a video from when he was in Buenos Aires when Argentina won the World Cup.
We started hiking close to noon, from the parking lot (elev 810m) to the covered bridge over the Kuskanax River, then about 1 km up to the old Hot Springs (picts 2-4). This is where the Kimbo Lake Trail starts (pict 5). Not too long after we came to a rather dilapidated picnic table (pict 6), where we ate our lunch. Lunch was a cheese and avocado sandwich, water and half a Cliff bar.
From there the trail winds through larch and cedar woods, with grounds covered in moss with lots of flowers, in particular lots of Dwarf Dogwood (Bunchberry), Queen’s cup and Foamflower (picts 7-9). In one section there was a lot of Settler’s Bane. There also are orchids, wild rhododendrons and huckleberry bushes. In all, I counted 25 different wildflowers.
About halfway there is an opening in the trees where you can see a snowcapped mountain in the distance (pict 10).
From there on the trail becomes steep, relentlessly going up and up. We stopped often to catch our breath, grouse, drink water, grouse some more … Shortly before getting to the lake the trail almost flattens out and wanders through a large cedars grove, with lots of Settler’s Bane, Huckleberries and Rhododendrons (picts 11-12). This was a spooky part of the hike - it smelled different, and it felt scary. It could have been the steep scree sides especially to the left, or the thought of wildlife, or just being tired. I don’t know. But we got to the lake (elev 1330m).
The lake is long and narrow, with lots of fished visible from the shore. A young couple with 2 plastic kayaks was fishing a little way in. We waved to them. We ate our 2 peaches, got our feel cooled off in the lake, looked at the fish, rested a bit, made the obligatory selfie (picts 13-14). It was quiet and peaceful, just beautiful.
At about 3:45 we decided to start the hike back.
The hike back was uneventful, except that it went a bit slow because of the steep downhills and the path often being very rooted so that the danger of tripping was real. We refilled our water bottles at one of the creeks (picts 15-16) and drank delicious cold mountain water.
We got back to the car at about 5 pm, and drove home.
We used the electric Bolt for this drive. It had 479 kwHrs at start, and 100 kwHrs at the end. The distance from our home to the Nakusp Hot Springs is about 380 kms, so the car was right on target.
