Words and photos by Perry Mack
We woke up to rain on vacation in Vancouver, two weeks after driving through wet conditions on Alberta’s Icefield Parkway. It was a strange mental transition from ancient glaciers to skyscrapers, although the weather was identical.
Perry Mack
The wide open water to enjoy at Conkle Lake Provincial Park near Osoyoos.
Many provinces and states offer several tourist destinations, which mean RVers don’t have to travel too far from home to enjoy new experiences. While constant use of masks and hand sanitizer are still a new experience, getting out of the house is a necessary mental break.
Living just north of the US border, thoughts for a getaway often turn south for winter and at least half the time in the summer. This year, with its unique set of challenges, forced us to travel closer to home. Several news stories reported limited opportunities to go RVing in many provincial parks and campgrounds, including those in British Columbia. However, most people seemed to miss the provincial campgrounds that are a little more remote and the recreation sites that are close to home as well.
As we travelled throughout the province, we found plenty of open recreation camping sites, often lakeside or very close to it, free for the choosing. Rec sites have limited amenities, often just a fire pit and toilets – no washrooms, showers or power, and reservations cannot be reserved in advance. Its first come, first served. Nonetheless, they do have a healthy helping of outdoor experiences – often trails, beaches and boat launches. Sites are typically smaller as well, making them ideal for Class A, B, C, truck campers and travel trailers under 9 m (30 ft), which means smaller is actually better.
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Perry Mack
Many options can be discovered with a little research and exploring.
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On one such trip we were disheartened as we drove past Mabel Lake Provincial Park just northeast of Vernon with its ‘Campground Full’ sign. Expectations were low as we continued on to nearby Cottonwood Beach Recreation Site. Lo and behold the rec site was almost empty and we pulled into a lakeview site with no neighbours. A light bulb lit up in our minds. If this was the case here, what about everywhere else? Time to take some risks and explore.
We had another similar experience on Adams Lake, located just northeast of Kamloops, where we drove past Adams Lake Provincial Park and continued on to select a great spot in a rec site. Although the rec sites don’t have as many spaces to camp, there are often more than one along the same route so keep going until you find one that suits your needs.
A little remote commonly means a longer drive, often on a gravel road, but the reward is worth the effort. We had never visited Conkle Lake Provincial Park near Osoyoos because of its remote location. We took a chance and found a small boat launch for canoes and kayaks, nice beach and were blessed with great weather. You won’t always be this lucky, but check the reviews and every time you find a new spot, you’ll have one more getaway in your arsenal of escapes.
Visit http://bcparks.ca/explore/ to find a park and see the amenities.
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The Vancouver Art Gallery was uncrowded during our visit, allowing us to linger at the exhibits unrushed.
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The Vancouver Art Gallery was uncrowded during our visit, allowing us to linger at the exhibits unrushed.
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Perry Mack
Staying local can also be a big city adventure. Vancouver is big for us as we live in Kelowna, a beautiful destination city with a population of a little more than 100,000. A trip to the lower mainland amongst Vancouver’s 675,000 people doesn’t sound like much, but the greater Vancouver area is 2.5 million.
Downtown is easily accessible by public transit, and the cultural sights, sounds and smells and Chinatown, Japantown and for us, the Vancouver Art Gallery are an exciting change from our backcountry adventures. Not all the museums are open, the Vancouver Canucks and BC Lions aren’t inviting fans through the doors, but food vendors, shops and the Art Gallery are open. Bring your mask and hand sanitizer and enjoy the reduced number of visitors in the venues that are open.
I pre-booked our Art Gallery adventure on-line. To some, ‘art gallery’ and ‘adventure’ don’t normally appear in the same sentence, however downtown in a large city is always an adventure to us. You can choose when to start your tour and are allowed three hours as they limit the number of visitors.
To our excitement, we arrived 30 minutes early and as the visitor count was low they were happy to let us in. The gallery was uncrowded, allowing us to linger at exhibits unrushed and with full view. The reduced capacity of venues everywhere may mean some limitations but there is still the chance to get out and explore until we return to a new normal of line ups and crowds.