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With more than 450 Provincial Parks, 6 National Parks and countless municipal and city parks, British Columbia has assured the public that there will always be a natural environment to explore and hike. These parks are protected to assure our wildlife large areas of refuge.
The West Coast Trail, a unit of Pacific Rim National Park, is an arduous 77km wilderness trail up the west coast of Vancouver Island, and is known around the world. It is so in demand, in fact, that a reservation and quota system is in effect. However there are many other excellent chances to hike the coast, including the new 49km Juan de Fuca Marine Trail and Long Beach on Vancouver Island, and Naikoon Provincial Park on the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Other interesting parks include Glacier National Park in the Selkirk Mountains, which has over 400 active glaciers, Yoho National Park in the Rockies with its magnificient waterfalls and turquoise-coloured lakes, and both the Bugaboo Alpine Recreation Area in the Purcell Mountains, mountaineering opportunities. Garibaldi Provincial Park provides convenient wilderness hiking and climbing to residents of nearby Vancouver, Wells Gray offers excellent canoeing and has some beautiful waterfalls.
Important new additions to the Provincial Park System include Canada's first grizzly bear habitat reserve - the Khutzeymateen, the Kitlope, the worlds largest preserved coastal old-growth watershed, and the Stein Valley. It should be noted that many of the newest additions to the BC Provincial Parks System have no facilities at this time.
There is always something happening in British Columbia, choose next to find out what.
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