Krestova loop is a short loop in Crescent Valley that goes up Krestova Road and back down Pass Creek road. It's a pretty small loop where the majority of the ride involves getting from Nelson to there.
You can either get out there on Highway 6/3A or go up Granite Road then through Blewett. The latter is definitely the better option since it is far more scenic and a much more interesting road with far less traffic. The ride through Blewett takes you up through a nice twisty climb with some good views. Watch out for potholes on the entire length of this road all the way to the dams though; there are certainly some large enough to eat bike wheels.
Nice climbing up to the height of Blewett Road
49 Creek hill at the exit of the switchback
Once you've hit the top of the climb on Blewett Road it has some fun high speed descending down to the dams and through the really tight switchback on 49 Creek hill. Watch your speed going into the switchback since you can start pushing about 80km/h going into it and the suggested speed on the sign for the corner is only 10km/h (30 is more accurate though).
After 49 Creek hill and past the couple of farms you drop down to the dams and generating stations before going back up to Highway 6/3A.
View of the dam from the second bridge
Back up on the highway it is a short ride to the junction where you turn and continue on Highway 6 for a short distance before crossing the bridge over to Lower Krestova Road. A steep climb is what you'll get on Lower Krestova Road. Once at the top of the climb you cruise along through Krestova on a bit of a plateau before dropping down quickly to Pass Creek Road. This is the "loop" and is probably only about 10km of the ride.
Starting to climb up Lower Krestova Road
Rolling along the top of Krestova
The crappy weather was blowing in my direction
The bridge with Pass Creek Road running up to it on the right side of the image.
After riding back along Pass Creek Road back to the bridge you can just retrace you route to get back into town. If you want to make it a bit more of a loop and less of an out and back you can ride up South Slocan Village Road which is to the left just before you would turn right back down towards the dams. Riding up there instead of back through Blewett will get you part way back towards town on sideroads before you have to join back onto Highway 6/3A. Going that way probably results in less climbing to get back home, but involves much more highway riding. Both are good options but since traffic was somewhat heavy being a Saturday afternoon I opted to go back through Blewett.
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