A Disc Golf Road Trip to Ymir, Nelson, Kaslo and Beyond
By Matt Coté
Cover photo courtesy of Nelson Kootenay Lake Tourism
There’s just something about the clink of a disc hitting a basket that rings of the Kootenays. The initiated call it chain music, and it’s the song of summer. Truly, frisbee golf is the ultimate chiller’s pastime: it’s free, tee time is any time, and pretty much anybody can play. But it’s also a great premise for a road trip. Nelson and Kootenay Lake have five distinct courses planted in our mountainous wilderness—together they connect some of the quaintest corners of our region. Here’s how to connect it all.
Ymir
Start a half hour south of Nelson. The 245-person hamlet of Ymir (pronounced Why-Meer) is a mining-era holdout with its own backwoods and artsy vibe. Its Clover Bear course, known locally as the Ymir Whirl, runs 18 holes and 3,950 feet between the Salmo River and Mount Dundee. It has mowed fairways, elevated tees and hand-painted signage that matches the town’s eccentric streak. The forest keeps it shaded through summer, with the river close at hand for cooling off, while fall turns the whole valley to color. If 18 isn’t enough, the Cyanide Nine adds a quick loop of short holes at a looser pace. And don’t miss the art collection in the Ymir Hotel.
Nelson and Blewett
Next stop is Nelson, the Victorian burg at the center of the Kootenay universe. Perched atop the Rosemont neighborhood, Art Gibbon Park is an easy warm-up: nine wooded holes wander between mature cedars and granite outcroppings, favoring precision over power. A round takes about half an hour, leaving plenty of day to hit the adjacent skate park or dirt jumps, or to take in the town’s 50-plus murals, 350 heritage buildings, or—in the cooler months—do a slow lap of its cafés and galleries. The small town is a hotbed of counterculture and celebrates Pride week in late August.
Fifteen minutes west in Blewett, the par-56 Highwater course is the region’s stiffest test with 18 holes and 6,149 feet of playing along the Kootenay River. It’s also the trip’s secret seasonal weapon. Low-elevation and south-facing, the course melts out early in spring and stays playable into milder stretches of winter, when the rest of the region’s fairways are still sleeping under snow. Come October, competitive types can enter the Nelson Fall Classic.
Balfour
Head 40 minutes up the lake’s west arm to Balfour, where the newest course on the circuit sits steps from the beach—and from the berth of the world’s longest free scenic ferry. The Balfour Disc Golf Course is a short, technical nine at par 28, with concrete and wooden tees, sharp signage and 1,979 feet of hilly, wooded playing. It’s the ideal intermission: throw a round, catch the ferry to the artisan shops of Crawford Bay, or carry on 15 minutes to Ainsworth Hot Springs, where a soak lands especially well on cooler days or evenings.
Kaslo
The circuit crescendos an hour and a half north of where it started, in Kaslo, an impossibly picturesque lakeside village of heritage storefronts and jutting peaks. All Yew Need is the longest course in the region, with 18 holes at par 57 and about two hours of tight, technical playing threaded through giant cedars and, yes, yew trees. It sits deep within the rare inland temperate rainforest. Keep an eye out for the seven hidden “Koots” forest sculptures, made by the Koots Artists Collective, that are tucked along the adjacent trail. Standout side trips include the lookout atop Mount Buchanan, which you can ride to on the 11-mile-long Friendly Giant mountain bike trail, rising 4,400 feet. You can also drop into the S.S. Moyie, the oldest intact passenger sternwheeler in the world.
Rounding It Out
You can buy discs at Valhalla Pure Outfitters or Mallard’s Source For Sports in Nelson, or rent them from Kaslo E-Kruise. Accommodations run from lakeside campgrounds and RV sites to historic hotels in Nelson and Kaslo—book ahead from June through August and check seasonal operating dates for fall and winter visits. The three-hour drive from Spokane rolls easily up Highway 6 (on the Canadian side) through the broadside of the evergreen Selkirk Mountains. Check DriveBC for road conditions in the shoulder months, and feel free to travel light. We’ve got everything you need up here.
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