Radium Hot Springs to White Swan Lake

From Whitefish we drive north to Roosville which is where we cross the US/Canadian border. The charming Canadian border guard eased us through and welcomed us to Canada.

We head for Radium Hot Springs, passing through towns on the lakes called Grasmere, Windermere and Invermere - only stopping briefly on the way to see 3 young osprey fighting over a nest.

We find a great little campsite at Dry Gulch and once settled in, drive into town for a pint with the locals at Horsethief Creek pub. At the bar, we get talking to Brent who is a keen huntsman and fisherman. He tells us about all sorts of places to explore in the forest, so we go back to the campsite, cook dinner over the fire and make a plan for the next day.

As we’re packing up and leaving, Greg the campsite and park ranger knocks on our door and we end up having a long chat with him, also about all the off road tracks we can take in the area. We slightly change our route again following Greg’s recommendations.

We embark on a 70km off road drive through the middle of the forests and mountains at elevations up to 5000ft. It is a real wilderness, and having been destroyed by forest fires a decade before, there is much open land where new growth is staring to come through. There are also logging activities, and gravel pits, and we meet a few huge logging lorries on the tracks which don’t hang about, and don’t slow down for us, so we pull aside and let them pass.

The scenery is fantastic, with the White River running alongside us for much of the way, its fast flowing turquoise waters making their way down, and snow capped craggy mountain tops framing every vista.

We stop to make a cup of tea, and sit outside in the sunshine, with the only sign of life being big bumble bees on the dandelions, and small birds flitting about. There are a couple of broken logs lying next to us, so we decide to test out the hand chainsaw we have on board, with excellent results!

We don’t see a great deal of wildlife, but do have a couple of sticky moments with very deep puddles and broken up roads, but the F350 copes with it all very well and by late afternoon we’re at our campsite, Pack Rat, on the banks of the White Swan lake. The water is a bright turquoise blue, and there are several species of waterfowl on the water.

We make a campfire and cook dinner, then retire to bed.