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Tourism BC
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Tourism BC
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Perry Mack
Courtesy Tourism BC
If you’re touring British Columbia, chances are you’ll pass through Kamloops; a high country hub linking the province’s rolling ranch lands to its lush lake country. But why pass through when you can stay a while? The hills around Kamloops are dotted with fishing lakes and golf courses, and laced with riding, biking and hiking trails. All this plus a genuine western vibe has Kamloops laying claim to the title: “the friendliest town in BC.” And that’s saying something.
Kamloops, whose name derives from a Secwepemc word meaning “where the rivers meet,” has been a gathering place for millennia. Experience some of this history at the Secwepemc Museum and Heritage Park, home to a 2,000-year-old archeological site, a museum and several reconstructed kekulis, or traditional winter pit houses.
Fast forward to the Wild West, complete with cowboys and bandits. A trip on the Kamloops Heritage Railway, pulled by a restored steam engine, is a ride through scenery and history. Some dastardly cads on horseback, re-enacting a famous 1906 robbery, may even hold you up.
These days, train robbing is out, but cowboy culture lives on. City slickers can join in with a trail ride across sagebrush-covered hills or a stay at a dude ranch. At Erin Valley Stables, enjoy some of the best riding trails BC has to offer or take part in an authentic western cattle drive.
If you prefer a bike, you’re in the right place, too. Kamloops, with roughly 1,000 hectares (about 2,500 acres) of bike trails, is known as the birthplace of freeriding. It’s also home to the Kamloops Bike Ranch, one of the most technically advanced bike parks in Canada.
Hikers can ramble among the Cinnamon Ridge Hoodoos — bizarre rock formations — or ride a chairlift to the wildflower meadows at Sun Peaks Resort; anglers can pick any of about 100 trout-rich lakes within an hour’s drive of town.
Golf? Absolutely. More than a dozen golf courses, including some of the top layouts in the province, make the most of Kamloops’ desert-meets-forest landscape. Test your links game among Canoe Creek’s grassy bunkers and open fields, or tee off at the Dunes, where fairways flow along a sandy former riverbed. At Talking Rock Golf Course in nearby Chase, lakeside fairways meet traditional First Nations art, cuisine and cultural activities, while Tobiano, nestled lakeside just west of Kamloops, holds the honour as the highest ranked public golf course in British Columbia.
Sun Peaks is also home to a wealth of summer hiking and biking, and, in winter, 122 powder-covered ski runs. Canada’s only three-mountain ski resort, it’s got everything from easy cruisers to black diamond routes, along with 28 kilometres (17 miles) of cross-country trails, three terrain parks, a tube park, outdoor skating, sleigh rides, snowshoeing, dog sledding, snowmobile tours and even torchlight skiing.
Kids may prefer a visit to the BC Wildlife Park, a 20-hectare (50-acre) habitat sheltering more than 60 species, including cougars, grizzly bears and timber wolves.
Savour locally raised steak, trout or duck at Brownstone Restaurant, a romantic spot in a downtown heritage building, or book a table at tiny Caffè Arianna for made-from-scratch Italian fare. Settle in for a big breakfast or a pulled pork sandwich at Passek's Classics Café, where everything is made, baked or smoked in house, then enjoy some loose tea and live music at The Art We Are, a combined tea shop, music venue, art gallery and vegetarian café.
Fancy a pint? There’s house-brewed mocha porter and honey badger pale ale on tap at the Noble Pig Brewhouse, Guinness at Kelly O’Bryan’s and about 130 international brews on the menu at the Frick and Frack Tap House. Or sip some cider: Left Field Cider Co. has an old-fashioned cider house on a scenic back road west of town.
Wherever you hang your hat, you may wish you’d stayed a bit longer. Kamloops is, after all, the friendliest town in BC.