Today was the prettiest ride of the tour, a short hop over the mountain from Slocan Lake to Kootenay Lake. A gradual 10 mile climb took us to Bear Lake and lunch at Fish Lake. It was a beautiful cool, sunny day.

And then the toads. Fish Lake is a breeding site for the Western Toad. The adult toads come down from the highlands in the spring, lay eggs, and go back up a few weeks later. When the tadpoles metamorph into toads in midsummer they too head for the hills. Many die in the process, especially crossing the road. Think of the old video game, Frogger. The female lays as many as 17,000 (!) eggs at a time, but that’s apparently not enough to overcome enhanced natural selection. To help the toads they’ve built halfpipes to direct them away from the highway to a creek where they can safely cross the road.

Apparently “toad harassing” is a Canadian thing, kind of like cow tipping. I had never heard of it before.

From lunch it was a continuous 20 mile downhill coast along a creek to the lakeside town of Kaslo.

Dinner was at the Angry Hen, a Canadian-Mexican restaurant which was nonetheless excellent. Lots of Kaslo photos tomorrow.