With a total land area of just about 360,000 square miles, and most of it robust alpine country, hiking tours of British Columbia are plentiful and varied. British Columbia also has a population density of less than five people per square kilometer as a large amount of the province’s 4.5 million inhabitants reside in the metro areas of Vancouver and Victoria. With this sort of open space, you will locate solitude and natural vistas that in many cases have been rarely explored on foot by Europeans and a keen understanding of B.C.’s motto, “Splendor Without Diminishment”.
Canada’s department of ecology, Environment Canada, has categorized British Columbia into six separate ecological zones, each of which presents hikers a unique experience. Of course, as hiking and other forms of outdoor recreation has grown in popularity, so have the amount of vacation rentals and Canada romantic getaways through the province. Lodgings at a range of prices from as low as $24 (CDN) per night can be located in even the most out-of-the-way vacation destinations.
If you are interested in an all inclusive resort that is truly a pampering experience, consider Cathedral Lakes Lodge near Penticton in south-central British Columbia. Hiking trails at 7000 foot elevations can bring you to any one of seven unspoiled mountain lakes where the trout fishing is superb.
Ecotourism is just one exciting hiking opportunity that is extensively obtainable in British Columbia. These are tours, typically taken on foot, in which tourists have the chance to take a trip to a number of the more ecologically vulnerable regions including the coastal clement rainforests that stretch from the Alaskan panhandle to northern California and the delicate sub-arctic taiga and boreal plains.
Sponsored by the province’s municipal governments and non-profit organizations, these ecotours are maintained in a fashion so that participants leave a minimal affect on the area while having a chance to view native flora and fauna in a pure state. Because so much of British Columbia is unoccupied by humans, hikers will have a chance to see different sorts of wildlife that have become rare in the more heavily populated U.S.
If you are searching for a variation from hiking in British Columbia’s scenic mountain country from one of the region’s cabin rentals, you should also consider agritourism. As is the case in Washington and Oregon to the south, British Columbia is an important agricultural center, particularly in the southern and eastern parts of the province. Agritours give hikers a chance to observe and even participate in the workings of green farms in a number of Canada’s most unique farmlands.
