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Destination BC - Andrew Strain
Cut loose in Kamloops
A hiker over Battle Bluff
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Perry Mack photos
Cut loose in Kamloops
Ribfest
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Perry Mack photos
Cut loose in Kamloops
Ribfest
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Perry Mack photos
Cut loose in Kamloops
Ribfest
By Perry Mack
Just an hour west of Sorrento on the TransCanada Hwy is a fulfilled small metropolitan centre waiting to be explored. It’s surrounded by an incredibly diverse landscape of sagebrush-covered hills, ravines, wide-open grasslands, rugged mountains, forested valleys and pristine lakes. And although you may never have visited the area, you’ve seen it in film and television. Movies like;
- An Unfinished Life with Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez and Morgan Freeman
- Firewall with Harrison Ford and Virginia Madsen
- 2012 with Jon Cusack and Woody Harrelson
- The A-Team with Bradley Cooper, Liam Neeson, Rampage and Shartlo Copley
- Shooter with Mark Wahlberg
- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants with Blake Lively and Mike Vogel
Many episodes for various TV series such as Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, The Andromeda Strain and Traffic have also been filmed in and around Kamloops.
It’s also the centre of an adventure packed out door region well known for links and lures. You can swing a club at thirteen different golf courses within 45 minutes of downtown or test your skills casting for high-jumping Kamloops rainbow trout where they once held the World Fly Fishing Championships.
Aside from some of the world’s best hiking and biking, marine adventures include scuba diving in places like Johnson Lake which some call the "The Caribbean of the North" as it is one of the clearest and most beautiful lakes in BC with a Caribbean ocean-like colour attributed to the limestone in the region.
This city on the Thompson River also provides access to kayaking, canoeing, and stand-up paddleboards. Adrenaline junkies, or those who need to find out if they are, can try skydiving, whitewater rafting or rock climbing. And if you’ve already decided you are not, try anything from horseback rides to helicopter tours, or Segway tours to fossil hunting.
But Kamloops is also uniquely cowboy country, with amateur rodeos held almost every weekend in the summer, and the world- renowned Kamloops Cowboy Festival every spring with three days of cowboy poetry, music and more. It is a city with a big heart that loves events.
There are tournaments, cultural events, high-performance training camps, and national and international competitions. Typically Kamloops hosts close on to 100 tournaments throughout the year!
Last year I couldn’t resist the savory temptation of the Kamloops Ribfest, which will be held again Aug 5-7, 2016. It’s held in Riverside Park and in addition to award-winning ribs from Champion Ribbers, there’s live entertainment, vendors, and refreshments. All activities are free to enjoy, including the Family Fun Zone, which features an assortment of bouncy castles, live family entertainment, face painting, and kids games.
It’s the same weekend as ‘Hot Night in the City Show ‘n Shine’, where Kamloops closes 11 blocks of the city for an incredible display of automotive wonder along with a full slate of related events.
Regardless of when you go, there will be more than you and your family can do or see in one visit. Just enjoy as much as you can, then plan your next visit on the way home.