Mountain Spirit Resort & Spa

Many people know of Kimberley for it’s great golf courses, or the fun ski resort. Once you get to know Kimberley and the area around the city, you’ll discover a variety of beautiful lakes to enjoy. The selection below is not exhaustive by any means. These are a few of my favourites and all within a one hour drive from Mountain Spirit Resort in Kimberley.

Lazy Lake – this is a great lake for swimming, the rope swing, rock jumping, fishing, kayaking, canoeing and watching for turtles (45 mins away).

St Mary’s Lake – look out for beavers here. This lake is popular for fishing, kyaking and canoeing (20 mins away).

Wasa Lake -this lake is known for its warm water and sandy beaches (30 mins away)

Premier Lake -a beautiful large lake on the edge of the Rockies with superb fishing plus a swimming area and beach (55 mins away)

Lake Koocanusa – this lake is a very large body of water great for wake boarding, waterskiing and sandy beaches (60 mins away)

Moyie Lake – another large lake about 50km from Kimberley. Moyie is great for all water enthusiasts!

Jimsmith Lake – a smaller lake great for swimming and wildlife spotting (40 mins away).  There is even a rowing club on this lake – The Rockies Rowing Club!

If you decide on a real estate purchase in Kimberley, the condos at Mountain Spirit Resort will provide the ideal base from which to explore and enjoy Kimberley.

I found this article and thought it was spot on in terms of describing the benefits of fractional ownership at Mountain Spirit Resort in Kimberley. This chap is called Bob Wood and is a regular contributor to Regular Forever Young. Bob found it easy to write on the pros and cons of fractional ownership of a recreation property – he’s an owner himself. Here’s his article:

I’m sitting on the side deck of our comfortable, modern two-bedroom, Muskoka-style cottage ready to attack a mystery novel, sipping a glass of chardonnay. My only worry on this day is whether I’ve applied a suitable amount of sun block. While April 13 may seem a little early to be soaking up cottage-country rays, the warmth of the afternoon sun is trapped on the porch, making a liar of the thermometer and tricking me into thinking that we’ve skipped spring and jumped straight into summer.

And as I look around, it’s all mine – sort of. We get to enjoy spring, the other three seasons and a bonus summer week with the five-week fractional-ownership package we purchased a few years back at the Bayview Wildwood Resort’s Cottages at Port Stanton development.

Started in 2003, the Cottages at Port Stanton bills itself as the closest fractional ownership project to Toronto – a 90-minute drive. With “unbeatable views” of Sparrow Lake and the surrounding rugged Canadian Shield countryside, we have been able to appreciate “the joys of lakeside living” pretty much as advertised since April 2004.

Is fractional ownership for you? Before we bought into Port Stanton, my wife and I, now both in our 50s, hadn’t really given the idea much thought. I suppose fractional ownership seemed like something intended for other people – with lots of money.

Up until about six years ago our vacation experience was split between “car camping” at various provincial parks and booking inexpensive hotel accommodation. Then, the need to escape the day-to-day grind of work and, additionally, take a break from caring for aging parents began to get to us and so we decided to spoil ourselves with a three-day/two-night package at a family resort north of Orillia known as the Wild Echo Bay Lodge.

Looking across Sparrow Lake on a snowy Friday night, we detected some building activity and decided to check into it. We were thinking at the time it was a timeshare and we expected the stereotypical hard sell associated with those places – but instead got the soft sell. And we were sold. The Cottages at Port Stanton rose on the site where Wild Echo Bay Lodge used to be.

We soon learned the difference between timeshares and fractional ownership. These units were the latter.

It turns out, the idea of sharing resources to purchase a vacation property has been around for years. As far as formalizing such arrangements in a commercial form, timesharing preceded fractional ownership. The first timeshares were apparently offered at a ski resort based in the French Alps in the sixties.

The fractional-property industry in North American didn’t really get going until the early 1990s, beginning at ski resorts in Colorado and other Rocky Mountains states.

So what’s the difference?

A timeshare is a right to the use of a property. Timeshares can be resold to another party as time, not as traditional real estate. On the other hand, fractional ownership (generally defined as a percentage share of an asset) can be resold, as fractional ownership conveys title of land.

As far as usage of the property, there are different schemes – fixed periods, floating dates and blends of both. A fractional share gives the owners certain privileges, such as a number of days or weeks when they can use the property.

For me, fractional ownership works just great. Here’s how:

• Disciplined me to take holidays

According to a Decima Harris research poll done last year, nearly one-quarter of employed Canadians report not taking all of their vacation days. This translates into 34-million unused days in Canada overall, representing about $6.03-billion in labour donated to employers. I am not inclined to work for free.

• Gets me away from the phone

We jump when the phone rings, which is probably a good thing.

• A break with no maintenance

Unlike traditional cottage owners, we’ve got no chores to do when we get there.

• A place for everything

Everything in our luxury, furnished cottage is always where it is supposed to be – not something that can be said about my permanent residence.

• The price is right

It seems cheaper than other types of vacationing. I leave it to financial gurus to prove me wrong but our maintenance fees for a week run in the $500 range for a two-bedroom. We originally paid about $44,000 for 50 years’ use of the property.

• Love that natural living. We can get closer to nature than our regular suburban existence.

I haven’t found any negatives yet and as I sip my wine and contemplate the good life, I don’t think I will find any.

Fractionals: a growth industry

Not so long ago, if you wanted a weekend or summer getaway, you bought a cottage and with it the costs of upkeep, or rented at a resort – hoping you could get a decent slot in the season you wanted. The idea of buying “part” of a cottage – one where someone else shouldered the responsibility of maintenance – was unheard of.

Today, however, fractional ownership is a rapidly growing industry, says Sue Nickason, a marketing consultant working with three such communities, including the new Cottages at Windermere House.

Fractional-ownership developments are springing up throughout Muskoka as well as other “cottage country” regions, like Haliburton, the Kawarthas, the lake region north of Kingston, and Georgian Bay. Nickason says the priorities for most are lakes, golf and ski opportunities. Most also like to be within three hours of their home base, although she sees buyers coming from as far away as Alberta and even England.

Read the article here: http://www.foreveryoungnews.com/leisureandlifestyle/article/16069

So far I’ve visited quite a few hot springs from our base in Kimberley: Radium, Halcyon, Ainsworth & Lussier hot springs. My hubby told me stories of cross country skiing to Ram Creek as a teenage but hadn’t been back since. Being a fan of the natural and odourless hot spring BC has to offer, I was pretty excited to experience another hot springs close to home.

One of the creeks we passed on the way from Moose Lake to Ram Creek.

Before you drive off in a regular car, here are some tips:

First of all, don’t attempt to go to Ram Creek hot springs unless you have four wheel drive. Seriously. That’s probably one of the reasons why there was no-one else there when we visited on a sunny Wednesday in July.

Also, don’t attempt to go to Ram Creek hot springs from the Moose Lake direction. The road is closed. Well it’s closed unless you have the guts to want to check out what “road closed” means… and drive over a couple of barricades, drive across a creek, drive through a large pond… need I write more. Just take the road from the Premier Lake direction if you don’t want a major 4×4 adventure!

The road that was “closed”

Do bring a camera. This location is spectacular and the pool itself looks almost too good to be true. If Canada produced it’s own version of “Irish Spring” soap, the commercial should be shot here! These hot springs aren’t as hot as the usual so it was the perfect way to while away a couple of hours on a sunny day in July!

Directions from the Hot Springs in BC website: http://www.bchotsprings.com/

Ram Creek Hot Springs
From Lussier, you can reach Ram Creek Hot Springs by way of back roads in approximately 45 minutes (Spirit’s comment – this road is closed!). Alternatively, you can travel to Skookumchuk and watch for the sign to Premier Lake. Head up Premier Lake Road and pass the turnoff to Premier Lake after 8 km. Continue travelling straight, now on the gravel Sheep Creek Road North. Following the main road for approximately 12 km, the road curves right and up the hill. There is room to park on the left hand side. You will see hot springs trickling towards the road, and a path up a slope to the springs, which are located in an ecological reserve. The luke warm Ram Creek Hot Springs are clear and odourless, with an average temperature range from 30°C to 35°C (86°F to 95°F). The pools are not accessible by vehicle during the winter months – snowmobile or cross-country skis required.

What an exhilarating way to spend a day. My hubby and I got our towel and change of clothes ready and met the rest of the rafting adventurers at the building with the fish on the roof – the home of Kimberley Raft Company. We clambered aboard their big blue bus and set off at around 9am, driving past St. Mary’s Lake and onward into the pristine wilderness of the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy. When we arrived at Dewar Creek, I didn’t realise just what all would be provided as the guides fitted us out with wetsuits, jackets, wet boots and helmets. They even packed lunch for everyone.

Next, everyone grabbed a paddle and we had a thorough briefing prior to setting off to ensure everyone was prepared to follow the commands together and make sure our adventure would be as safe as we could make it, regardless of what the river willed!

Setting off, the guides ensure all commands are practiced on the water, not just on land. Everyone was confident and prepared for the whoops of the gentle rapids, and those to come later. We made our way down Dewar Creek, sticking close enough to the other raft to allow us some laughs at their expense: getting their raft stuck on a rock for a few seconds allowed us to sneak past and lead the way at one stage!

Lunch time came and we had time for a break and devour some tasty wraps and delicious chocolate chip cookies. The guides got everything ready and served up the buffet on an overturned raft – perfect. We ate perched on the edge of a spectacular canyon and watched the water crash against the rocks.

Energy levels topped up, we were now ready for the 2km of Class 3 rapids we’d been building up to. We boarded our rafts and got stuck in, attacking the rapids in the centre of the river and hitting all the “niggies” we could! Our guide Dan steered us into the best rapids, almost too well at one point when he was catapulted out of the boat! The pre-departure training paid off as we stayed calm and had him back on board and back in control within seconds.

After the adrenaline of the rapids, we enjoyed some beautiful natural scenery until we reached the end of this trip. But all was not over – the guides offered us the option of “swimming” across the river in what looked like fairly gnarly rapids to me. Again, training was given on which direction to swim to start, when to go from front crawl to the “defensive” position on your back with feet in front. Over half the group gave it a go and gained one more final thrilling experience before relaxing on the big blue bus and returning back to Kimberley. Thanks to Craig’s team and having another awesome experience with the Kimberley Raft Company!