There Are 3 Kootenay Rivers???

[Smitty]

Hey all:

 

Was looking through my Backroads Mapbooks last night. So let me get this straight, or someone set me straight:

 

1) There is a Kootenay river that rises in Kootenay National Park, goes past Canal Flats, pretty much head straight south, and eventually becomes Lake Koocanusa.

 

2) Then, on Kootenay Lake, you get 2 more. One leaves the west arm, and joins the Columbia near Castlegar.

 

3) The 2nd Kootenay river leaves the lake, headed basically south past Creston to the US border.

 

Have I got this right?

 

Don't even get me started on the Columbia river, which leaves said lake, flows for awhile, becomes the massive Kinbasket Lake (which confusingly, seems to feed 2 rivers; the North Thompson and the Columbia, someone explain that hydrological trick), then morhps into Lake Revelstoke, Then Upper Arrow Lake and then Lower Arrow lake, and, in between, sometimes resembles a river. Yeesh; its more lake than river! (it seems).

 

Anyways, us Albertans have it way easier: River starts, river gets dammed, river flows from tailwater. Simple. And, of course, we're the only province that, via canoe/portage, you can reach 3 vastly different places on 2 oceans. Neat.

 

Smitty

[monger]

The Kootenay river at Creston is going north to the K lake. Then it travels west to Castlegar.

The river loops into the states downstream from Koocanusa and then returns to Canada. It enters the states again south of Trail

[Highlander]

The Kootenay River is just one river, from it's source to where it joins the Columbia at Castlegar. The piece at Creston flows into, not out of, Kootenay Lake.

 

The Columbia does not feed the North Thompson. There is a low divide but no (present) hydrological connection.

 

[Smitty]

Ahhhh...see how knowledgeable people and google maps can help out?!

 

So, I can clearly see now how the Kootenay dips into the US and then comes back. Cool. I had this whole bias thing, that once you reach a certain point in Southern BC, all water just flows south. Never occurred to me that it flows back north into the province again.

 

And then looking at the Valemount - Albreda area, that also looks neat because you've got 3 divides within a very short distance: water flowing into the Fraser system, water flowing into the N. Thompson (which ends up in the Fraser anyways), and then water flowing into Kinbasket lake in the Columbia system. Coolx2! Always been fascinated by this stuff since I was like 15.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

Smitty

[ÜberFly]

So Mike,

 

You are finally are admitting you are a geek!!

 

P

 

P.S. Welcome to the club

 

Coolx2! Always been fascinated by this stuff since I was like 15.

 

[Smitty]

So Mike,

 

You are finally are admitting you are a geek!!

 

P

 

P.S. Welcome to the club

 

Oh Uber...that ship sailed long ago, from the moment I put down the bass clarinet to pick up a baton to conduct the band geeks, then, geekily enough, switching to teach math. lol

 

The kids have keen detectors; they know I am geek within the 1st 10 minutes of class. What I try to do is to teach them to wear their geek crowns proudly.

 

P.S. Am I behind on the club dues???

 

Smitty

[ÜberFly]

Checks in the mail, I hope!! LoL

 

P

 

 

Oh Uber...that ship sailed long ago, from the moment I put down the bass clarinet to pick up a baton to conduct the band geeks, then, geekily enough, switching to teach math. lol

 

The kids have keen detectors; they know I am geek within the 1st 10 minutes of class. What I try to do is to teach them to wear their geek crowns proudly.

 

P.S. Am I behind on the club dues???

 

Smitty

[ladystrange]

Oh Uber...that ship sailed long ago, from the moment I put down the bass clarinet to pick up a baton to conduct the band geeks, then, geekily enough, switching to teach math. lol

 

The kids have keen detectors; they know I am geek within the 1st 10 minutes of class. What I try to do is to teach them to wear their geek crowns proudly.

 

 

 

Smitty

 

 

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