East Kootenays

The East Kootenays is a region in south-eastern British Columbia, Canada, generally taken to include the valley of the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers south of Golden to the U.S. border. The valley sits between the Rocky Mountains to the east and the Purcell Mountains to the west. About 60,000 people live in the region (2016).

Map of the East Kootenays

Cities and towns

• 1 Cranbrook — anchoring the south end of the East Kootenays and the largest city in this region.
• 2 Fairmont Hot Springs — natural hot springs, three golf courses, and a small, family-oriented ski hill.
• 3 Fernie — renowned for great skiing and close enough to Calgary to be a weekend destination.
• 4 Invermere — a small community on the north end of Lake Windermere, popular as a summer and weekend destination when its population may increase dramatically with visitors from neighbouring Alberta.
• 5 Kimberley — the Bavarian-styled town just north of Cranbrook, a former mining town and excellent ski destination.
• 6 Radium Hot Springs — famous for its hot pools
• 7 Sparwood — see the Terex Titan, at one time the largest truck in the world, and the mural art that depicts the history of the former nearby mining communities.

Other destinations

Kootenay National Park

• 1 Kootenay National Park — many of the park's attractions are near the road of this skinny-but-immense park
• 2 Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park — trails provide the only land access: camping, hiking, mountain climbing, viewing spectacular mountain scenery, fishing, horseback riding, and ski touring.

Understand

The East Kootenay valley is generally wider, drier and has greater extremes of temperatures than the West Kootenays, with which it is often compared. While remote from most population centres in British Columbia, the valley is only a few hours' drive from Calgary and other points in southern Alberta, and many people from those areas own property and/or visit during the summer for boating, fishing and golf and in the winter for skiing. Like Alberta, East Kootenay is in the Mountain time zone, one hour ahead of most of BC.

Fernie viewed from the SW face of Mt. Proctor

From Canal Flats, about 30 minutes north of Cranbrook, the Kootenay River enters the valley from the Rockies and flows south; the Columbia River starts its journey north from its headwaters in Columbia Lake.

Early in the 1900s, there was a plan to join the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers at Canal Flats, how that community got its name. Perhaps fortunately, that project did not succeed. Traces of the attempted canal are still visible.

The region's dominant landform is the Rocky Mountain Trench, which is flanked by the Purcell Mountains and Rocky Mountains on the east and west, and includes the Columbia Valley region, the southern half of which is in the region. Another distinct area is the Elk Valley in the southern Rockies, which is the entrance to the Crowsnest Pass and an important coal-mining region. The Columbia and Kootenay River valleys form the bottomlands of the Rocky Mountain Trench.

Get in

By car

The most common and convenient way into this area is by private vehicle. The valley is accessed from the north at Golden from the Trans Canada Highway Rte 1, from the east through Kootenay National Park to Radium Hot Springs or, in the south, from southern Alberta on Rte 3 via Fernie. Highway 3 is the only east/west route in the south and links this valley to the West Kootenays starting at Creston, an hour west of Cranbrook.

From the U.S.

From Montana, take US 93 to the Roosville border crossing, then BC 93 towards Cranbrook. From Washington and Idaho, follow US 95 to the Eastport/Kingsgate port of entry, then BC 95 to Cranbrook.

By plane

• Cranbrook (Canadian Rockies "International" Airport - YXC ^IATA) - has scheduled flights from Vancouver and Calgary

Smaller communities in the region have landing strips for private aircraft.

By bus

• Mountain Man Mike's. One trip per week on Tuesday from Calgary to Sparwood (3 hr 15 min), Fernie (3 hr 45 min), and Cranbrook (6 hr), and on to Kaslo. They also offer a weekly service to Kaslo from Vancouver on Sunday. (updated May 2020)

There are numerous tour buses, bringing visitors to places like Radium Hot Springs.

Get around

By car

Highways 95 and 93, which overlap for much of their run through the region, are the north-south route, while Highway 3 crosses from east to west.

By public transit

BC Transit operates public transit in the region:

• Cranbrook
• Columbia Valley (Fairmont Hot Springs, Invermere, and Radium Hot Springs)
• Elk Valley (Elkford, Fernie, Sparwood),
• Kimberley - Bus routes connect with Cranbrook from Monday to Friday.

See

Some of the original buildings at Fort Steele near Cranbrook

The mountains are what you've come to the East Kootenays to see. Look up: they are all around you.

Fort Steele Heritage Town (near Cranbrook) is a collection of heritage buildings set up as a North-West Mounted Police outpost. Staff in period costumes help illustrate how live was during that era

The Canadian Museum of Rail Travel is a must for train buffs. This Cranbrook museum has exhibits of passenger rail cars built in the 1920s and in the 1900s.

Kimberley has the "largest freestanding cuckoo clock in Canada".

Do

Radium Hot Springs

Soak in the hot pools at Radium Hot Springs or Fairmont Hot Springs.

Go hiking or climbing at Mount Fernie Provincial Park (near Fernie), St. Mary's Alpine Provincial Park (near Kimberley), Windermere Lake Provincial Park (near Invermere), or Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park near the Alberta border.

Ride the rails through the Mark Creek valley's spectacular scenery at Kimberley's Underground Mining Railway in Kimberley (British Columbia).

Ski at Kimberley Alpine Resort, or the Fernie Alpine Resort. Fairmont Hot Springs also has a ski hill.

Invermere and area are host to the biggest outdoor curling bonspiel in Canada every January. The spiel is held on the frozen Windermere Lake.

Stay safe

Crime rates in East Kootenay are low, but when in need you can contact the police's (RCMP) Cranbrook detachment through their website or by phone at +1 250-489-3471 or 9-1-1 in an emergency.

As this is a rural area with a lot of wilderness, the natural world poses the most acute hazards. Wikivoyage articles on dangerous animals (particularly the sections on bears, mountain lions and ungulates) and severe weather (particularly thunderstorms, hot weather, cold weather and snow safety) provide general advice that is highly relevant to safe travel in East Kootenay.

From May to October, be vigilant of wildfires. The BC Wildfire Service maintains a live map of all known wildfires and their severity and extent, as well as localized threat levels, smoke forecasts, campfire bans and evacuation orders.