Motorcycle Touring in Southern British Columbia: Nakusp to Golden

By Kimberly Walker

Ten days of motorcycle touring in southern British Columbia? Sign me up! In Part 1 of our trip we travelled from Agassiz to Nakusp. In Part 2, we ventured further into the southeast portion of BC.

After several days of travel through Summerland, Vernon, Lumby, the Needles-Faquier Ferry, McDonald Creek Provincial Park, and Arrow Park, we headed further north, switching from Highway 6 to Highway 23 past Nakusp. At the literal end of the road, we were on to our third inland ferry in two days! The Upper Arrow Lake Ferry, the M.V. Columbia, runs from Galena Bay on the east side to Shelter Bay on the west side. This was our first non-cable ferry of the trip and also our first “ferry wait”. The 20-minute ferry runs 5AM to midnight and carries 80 vehicles, but on the Monday of the Canada Day long weekend 80 vehicles was not quite enough for us to squeeze our way onto the boat, so we ended up waiting about an hour for the ferry to cross, unload, reload, and return. Fortunately, there are some beautiful trails and beaches at the Galena Bay terminal, and almost immediately after the ferry pulled away from the dock everyone in the know headed for the launching area and had a swim!

Once we successfully crossed the Upper Arrow Lake Ferry we headed for Blanket Creek Provincial Park for the night. (Check out the blog Camping at its best: Revelstoke to Galena Bay, British Columbia).

On Day four of our trip we left the quiet and motorcycle friendly roads of the East Kootenays and headed for the much larger and busier Trans Canada Highway to make the jaunt from Revelstoke to Golden. This area of the province is incredibly beautiful, passing by Mount Revelstoke National Park, Rogers Pass, and Glacier National Park, but I must admit I was nervous about the volume of traffic on such a major highway.

In order to avoid peak travel hours, we decided to spend most of our day exploring the Revelstoke area. No matter how many times I visit Revelstoke, I am taken in by the charm of the community, particularly the Grizzly Plaza area. There are lots of cool shops to explore, plenty of restaurants to choose from, and the perfect amount of practical amenities to resupply or pick up anything you might have left at home (in our case: blister band-aids and new running shoes!).

Once we had completed our in-town tasks, we headed for Revelstoke Mountain Resort with our sights set on the famous Pipe Mountain Coaster. This gravity monorail rollercoaster allows you to control your speed as you whiz down the mountain at speeds up to 42km/h! We elected for the “Play All Day” pass, and play all day we did. We started off with Track #1 on the Pipe Mountain Coaster, then headed down to the village for a refreshing PopCycle gourmet ice pop – strong recommendation for the raspberry lemonade option. Next we headed out for a round of Disc Golf, and let me tell you, Disc Golf is much more challenging than I anticipated. The course is a bit of a hike from the main village area, so while I felt like this was a surprise two-for-one, on extremely hot days like the one we were there make sure you bring some water. After Disc Golf we suited up and took a spin through the Aerial Adventure Park for some high ropes obstacles and ziplines. Following this, we took two gondolas right to the top of the mountain where we ate french fries, took a stroll, and enjoyed the views from the patio. To wrap up our day, we headed back to the top of the lower gondola, then returned to the village via Track #2 on the Pipe Mountain Coaster.

Having successfully avoided the busiest part of the day on the highway, we now donned our warm layers for a beautiful evening ride onward to Golden where our final destination of the day was the Golden Municipal Campground.

Check out the other blogs in this motorcycle camping series:
Motorcycle Touring in Southern British Columbia: Agassiz to Nakusp
Motorcycle Tourism in Southern British Columbia: Golden to Nelson
Motorcycle Touring in Southern British Columbia: Nelson to Agassiz

For accommodations in this area or elsewhere in British Columbia check out https://www.travel-british-columbia.com/

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Published: May 2, 2024
Last Updated: June 27, 2024

About the Author

Kimberly is a Special Education, Elementary School teacher in Hope, BC. Previously having worked ten years at the Hope Visitor Centre & Museum promoting tourism in Hope and British Columbia, Kimberly worked on many local history projects in the museum as well as researching and writing articles for the local newspaper. Kimberly loves travelling with her husband Dale and their dog Alpine. In the fall of 2014, they spent the first 78 days of married life travelling and camping their way across Canada - just the two of them and the dog - travelling in a Hyundai Elantra! Kimberly loves various outdoor recreation types and exploring our beautiful province.