Getting to Kootenay Lake from Spokane

Highway 6 carries the route from Spokane.

Verified 2026-09-22 against the cited page (highways per a separate source).

The border crossing on this route is at Nelway, BC. The Government of Canada's own November 2024 notice on port-of-entry hours (this entry's `source`) lists "Nelway" by name, in British Columbia, with hours "8 am to 6 pm, 7 days a week" — that notice does not name the American side. Wikipedia's Highway 6 article (`highwaysSource`) separately states: "Highway 6 begins at the Canada–United States border crossing at Nelway, where it connects with Washington State Route 31," runs "north for 14 km (9 mi) to the town of Salmo, where Highway 3 diverges west," and continues through Ymir to Nelson; no BC government page narrates this route the way Wikipedia's article does. A separate U.S. Customs and Border Protection notice, read the same day, names the American side as the "Metaline Falls" port of entry, on Washington State Route 31 (https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/new-hours-ports-danville-and-metaline-falls-take-effect-oct-1) — that notice does not name Nelway or British Columbia.

Verified 2026-09-22 against the CBSA’s port-of-entry hours notice.

Highway 6 from the Nelway crossing reaches Nelson directly. The Kootenay Pass stretch of Highway 3 lies south of there, between Salmo and Creston, and only matters if you continue on to Creston by road instead of by ferry.

From Nelson, Highway 3A runs east along the West Arm to the Balfour ferry terminal, where the free Kootenay Lake Ferry crosses to Kootenay Bay — the way to reach the East Shore or Creston without the Kootenay Pass detour.

A scheduled job reads DriveBC’s Open511 feed every ten minutes for the corridors this route uses.

Open511 reports no closure on this route right now, as of a reading 5 min ago.

DriveBC has posted no advisory touching the lake right now.

Road events from DriveBC Open511.

Sailing times are Pacific Time, the time in Balfour, Nelson and Kaslo. Creston and most of the East Shore keep Mountain Standard Time all year, which matches Pacific in summer and runs one hour ahead in winter.