Had it already been two years? As his KLR650 roared east along British Columbia’s Highway 3, otherwise known as The Crowsnest, Trevor Marc Hughes thought about meeting his friend from Colorado on the other side of the province in 2012.

Wes Taylor was backing up his truck and camper into a campsite at remote Meziadin Lake right next to Trevor’s one-man tent and KLR. He stepped out, they shook hands and he told Trevor about his love of the motorcycle. The Canadian and American would soon plan riding their KLRs together along some of B.C.’s backroads.

The Castlegar RV park where Wes and his wife, Nancy, were stationed was Trevor’s destination for the day, 400 kilometres from his previous night’s campsite at EC Manning Park. As Trevor pulled in, the KLRs excited thumping returning to idle, the wheels crunching on gravel, he saw his friend waving to him on the other side of the park.

After a night catching up, the next morning it was time to finally set out, Wes’ red KLR having been unloaded from his truck. The adventure ahead would take three days and pass through “The Silvery Slocan”, an area of the West Kootenay region famed for its silver rush in the late 1800s.

After passing through the town of Nelson, Wes and Trevor would find themselves riding one-lane secondary roads in the sun, through Kokanee Creek Provincial Park, past Kootenay Lake’s first community, Ainsworth Hot Springs, then proceeding along the massive lake itself, the scenic shore a companion for the two-hour descent along switchbacks and cool mountain air passes into the town of Kaslo.

For decades, during and after the silver rush, the way to get around Kootenay Lake was by sternwheeler. Wes and Trevor decided to visit the last intact vessel, the SS Moyie. Now a national historic site, the sternwheeler’s Victorian interior has been painstakingly restored.

A drizzly start next day would see the adventurers traveling the Lardeau, an area north of Kaslo. Just past Meadow Creek the environment would change from paved road along a high ridge overlooking Kootenay Lake to low-lying plains. The asphalt would run out at Meadow Creek.

Not a soul passed by in the hours that followed in an area that Wes would say was like nothing he’d ever seen. In the lead, Trevor would put the brakes on suddenly, for before them, a few hundred metres away, a family of black bears grazed on blackberries. A stop by the Lardeau River would have them marveling at the peace, the tree-lined mountains and the clarity of the mountain run-off trickling by at their feet.

Gerrard, famous for its trout, would be where the backroads really began across yet another single-lane wooden bridge. The switchbacks would be in rough gravel and mud and would peak at the town of Trout Lake City.

Rich deposits of gold and silver were found there in the 1890s, bringing adventurous spirits. Wes and Trevor filled up their KLR’s tanks with 99-year-old hand-operated pumps and visited the stunning 1892-built Windsor Hotel.

The rain would continue as they pushed on along the gravel to the northern apex of the route, before arriving at Halcyon Hot Springs, settling into the relaxing pools before settling in for the night. There was no other silver town like it.

Sandon would be created in a whirlwind of activity in the 1890s, its population peaking at 5000. Wes and Trevor would travel its winding gravel roads to take in the Sandon Historical Society’s museum, picking up massive pieces of silver ore and learning of the quick demise of the town through fire and flood.

Until recently the area south of Slocan was on high alert as lightning-sparked wildfires were burning close to several towns, but with the rain the wind-down back into Castlegar was smoke-free, the pleasant riding in the fresh air taking the two riders through friendly towns and curvy highway.

From sternwheelers to silver, hand-operated gas pumps to Victorian hotels in the wilderness and some exciting backroad riding, the Silvery Slocan route in British Columbia’s Kootenay Region didn’t disappoint the two reunited motorcyclists.