John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints


British Columbia Inland Ferries, Including Kootenay Bay - Balfour

The Kootenay Bay - Balfour Ferry connects Highway 3A across Kootenay Lake, forming an alternative route between Creston and Castlegar.

According to an article in the Sunday Times travel supplement on 7-Apr-02, this ferry is free of charge, the crossing takes 35 minutes and the views are extremely scenic.

The article does not say whether this is a car ferry or for foot passengers only, or whether it is free for cars or only for foot passengers.

This ferry is marked "Free Ferry" in the Rand McNally Road Atlas, as is the ferry which connects Highway 23 across Lower Arrow Lake between Shelter Bay and Galena Bay (southeast of Revelstoke) and the ferry which connects Highway 6 across Lower Arrow Lake between Needles and Fauquier (east of Vernon). However, Microsoft MapPoint shows the latter as being a bridge, not a ferry.

In Oct-02 Leslie Lewis who lives in the area kindly sent me this comment:

The Kootenay Bay - Balfour, Galena Bay - Shelter Bay, and Needles - Fauquier ferries all exist. All carry both foot and car traffic. All are extremely scenic, for a few more weeks they are free. There will be a fee charged for the crossings (for vehicles only) sometime in the near future as our money-grubbing provincial government attempts to tax the backwoods out of existence. But the experience of crossing on these wonderful vessels would be worth almost any amount.

External Links

British Columbia Inland Ferries

Details of routes and schedules. Verified Nov-03.
British Columbia

Ferries

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Most recently modified 3-Feb-04