Everything started out well, bikes were loaded, coffee acquired, vehicles arranged (we needed enough to handle a shuttle), and passports in hand, we headed toward Salmo and the border crossing at Nelway. This is were the day slowed down a bit. The border was quite busy and we had a young german visitor with us who took some time to be processed and allowed to enter the USA .It cost him $6 american (had to be american) for a pass to enter the country for the day. It took so long I began to wonder if they had cuffed him and put him in the clink. Finally, out of the door comes Valentin, pass in hand and we are off again.
Got to the Lake, dropped off the car to ferry the shuttle drivers back at the end of the day, and up we went. Now 500 road is a forest service road that is open until Aug 15th , so being that it was only the 13th we could drive up a good portion of the way and cut down the uphill ride. This was a good thing because the day was really heating up. After a solid half hour drive we arrived at the trail head. We decided to go right to the top of Hall Mt. @ about 6500 feet, take in the view and the descend. The climb was a good 45 minutes of grinding away but the views from the top were quite marvelous.
Check out the slide show and video. A GoPro version will follow in the near future.
Hall Mt. was it's usual awesome self. Everyone was all smiles and high fives after the ride. Some of the nicest flowing single track that one can find. We all wondered why we had been neglecting it for so long. Glad we made the outing.
While the shuttles were being retrieved we swam, had cold beer and relaxed. The end to a perfect mountain bike day.
They even let the kid back into Canada without paying. What a bargain.
On the drive home you got that sense that you had experienced a little bit of heaven on earth, just the way it is supposed to be. Thanks Sullivan Lake, thanks Hall Mt., but most of all thanks to the people on the ride for helping us experience a heavenly day.
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