May 18, 2026: Revelstoke to Radium Hot Springs

Today would be our longest day of driving, retracing our path through Rogers Pass back to Golden, then south to the village of Radium Hot Springs in Kootenay National Park.

We purchased tickets online to the Golden Skybridge, ate a quick breakfast in our room, and set off with clear, sunny skies, much more auspicious than our previous trip over Rogers Pass (which turned out to be fine anyhow). It turned out that purchasing our Skybridge Tickets online gave us a discount, but didn't save us any time standing in line. I can only imagine how busy it must be in the summer! Even at this time of year it seemed like the parking lot was close to full.

The two suspension bridges are truly impressive - they are the highest in Canada (130 m/426 ft, and 80 m/262 ft above the Kicking Horse River). You could feel a fair bit of swaying while walking across (which delighted me and Miles, but is really not Mark's favourite thing) and it was a long way down (I hung onto my phone extra carefully while taking photos on the first bridge; for the second, I got my camera out of the backpack to have the security of the wrist strap). Afterwards we ate burgers and a hot dog at the picnic table (glad the weather was so fantastic, but wish the full menu had been available - Miles was longing for the brisket sandwich), then got on the road to Radium.

Almost immediately out of Golden the view opened up into the expansive Columbia River Wetlands valley, which is one of the longest undisturbed wetland ecosystems in North America. Highway 95 was gently winding, mostly level, and much of the time we had it all to ourselves - a relaxing drive versus going through the mountains, so even though it was adding up to be the longest drive, it didn't feel onerous. We stopped at a scenic viewpoint just past Radium for a view of the river valley, then headed back into town to our hotel, Prestige Radium Resort. We walked around a bit to get oriented, then went for a drive out to the hot springs.

We parked at the pool and started up the hill on the Sinclair Falls trail. Within just few minutes, we were close to a herd of mother and youngster bighorn sheep, which the town is known for. Then we turned back to explore the pass through Sinclair Canyon, which is dramatically tall and narrow (it was a dangerous single-lane road/bridge until the 1950s, and falling rocks are still a concern - we saw a soccer-sized rock that had fallen into the oncoming lane when we passed back through later in the evening), with the rushing waters of Sinclair Creek passing below the road and then descending far below. The climate felt noticeably warmer and drier here than in Revelstoke - we had definitely left the temperate rainforest behind.

We passed a few male bighorn sheep on the roadside as we returned to town. We had a delicious dinner of guacamole, chips and tacos at Goat Street, a Mexican restaurant with a dramatic (and almost too sunny) view over Sinclair Canyon.

Miles decided to relax in the hotel room for the evening (he'd been a bit low in energy all day) while Mark and I went to the hot springs pool. It is an interesting 1950s-era Federal Heritage Building. There are trace amounts of radon in the water (less than the amount emitted by an old-fashioned glowing watch dial), as well as sulphate, calcium, and bicarbonate. It is heated geothermally 3 km beneath the earth's crust, then rises rapidly through a fault line and emerges at 45.5 degrees Celsius, flowing so strongly at 1700+ litres per minute that it refills the pools every eight hours. It's first cooled to 39 degrees for the shallow hot soaking pool, then cooled further to 29 degrees for the deep "cool" swimming pool. Unlike most hot springs, there is no smell of sulphur, because the sulphur is all oxygen-bound as sulphate. It was lovely - the hot pool is as hot as a hot tub, and very spacious, with a sitting ledge around the entire perimeter, and a frigid cold plunge pool adjacent (I managed to go in up to my knees just long enough for my feet to start to go numb). The cooler swimming pool was still pleasantly warm (more so than the heated pool in Revelstoke), and very large and deep. There were smooth, white mineral deposit layers on the tiles where the water laps, and it was very peaceful with the rock cliff and forested surroundings. It was uncrowded, probably both because of the early season and the late hour (it is open until 10 pm every evening). We returned to our hotel feeling very relaxed.

Mark venturing out across the first (and highest) suspension bridge - hands on rails

The Kicking Horse River, far below

Zooming in for a closer view of the river

Looking back at the bridge we had just crossed

Beautiful blue skies above the second bridge

Miles enjoying the second bridge - hands-free

A zipliner zipping over the canyon, even higher than the bridges

Looking back at the first bridge - the people are so small

Giant tic-tac-toe toss

Another view of the Kicking Horse River

Mark tries not to block the view of the canyon

Can't resist a giant chair photo-op

Columbia Wetlands viewpoint near Radium Hot Springs

Bighorn sheep like the open forest/grassland near town because it makes it easier for them to detect predators and find grass to eat

Zooming in on the herd of bighorn sheep mothers and youngsters

Passing male bighorn sheep on the roadside

Sinclair Canyon sheer walls

The road pass, squeezed between the cliffs (the pass was widened through blasting to build the two-lane road)

Sinclair Creek, plunging down ~400 m into Sinclair Canyon

Looking back on the road pass and creek

Historic hot springs pools building