Kamloops, Nakusp, and Castlegar

Canadian Rockies Road Trip, Days 18-20 | Driving from Kamloops to Castlegar, BC | Hiking, kayaking, and camping across Southern BC | June 2023

We woke up at our boondocking spot to find a light rain falling. Our night here was quiet despite being next to the highway, thanks to the trees for blocking the view and muffling the sound. Curtis had a meeting, so we hung around a while longer and I wandered around the trailhead with Charlotte. When the meeting was over, we continued our drive South.

Our first stop came shortly after, at the Chasm Ecological Reserve. There was a small parking area off a side road, offering great views into a deep chasm. We took a short walk along the rim to enjoy even more expansive views and it was a nice short stop to tide Charlotte over until we reached our main hike for today.

Continuing South, we drove to the city of Kamloops and arrived at Kenna Cartwright Park. It was now sunny and warmer, and the area was very dry and had some familiar looking desert plants. We packed up plenty of water and set off on a trail, heading up to a lookout over the town and the rivers. We made it most of the way together, but as expected, Charlotte wasn’t a fan of the exposed sun, so we took breaks in the shade whenever we could. Thankfully as we got higher up, there were more pines that provided shade. Eventually I let Curtis finish the trail while I waited with Charlotte. When he returned, she was much more eager to hike back down to the car…probably because we told her we’d get her a burger when we were done.

True to our word, when we were finished with the hike we started to complete our list of “chores” to do while in the city, with our first stop being at an A&W for lunch. We had been seeing these all over, and finally gave in to the temptation. We were starting to wonder if A&W was started in Canada, but I looked it up and learned that it was just the first fast food burger chain to cross the border, which is why it’s everywhere here. While it satisfied our burger craving, we agreed that it just isn’t as good as our favorite burger franchise: Culver’s. 

After acquiring food and gas, we drove to a visitor center with free wifi to plan out the rest of our day and week, and enjoy our lunch at a picnic area. Charlotte enjoyed her burger, then fell asleep in the grass. Wanting to keep her happy, Curtis ran the last couple errands of picking up some groceries and taking recycling to a drop off site. With these errands completed, he returned to pick us up and we continued on with our drive. 

From Kamloops, we drove East on BC-97 to Vernon, then 6 East to Cherryville, to our chosen camping area for tonight. It was another recreation area located not too far off the highway, a little difficult to find because it wasn’t signed and the road was rough, but we ended up finding the perfect spot right by the river. 

The next morning, we continued on BC-6, and crossed the Columbia River by ferry. Our arrival was perfectly timed with the next take off, the ride was free, and it was a very quick ride over to the other side. Next we drove up to Nakusp and to the trailhead for Vicky’s View just North of town. The trail was a wide road, going straight up the hill to the viewpoint. Thankfully the path was mostly shaded, just the way Charlotte prefers it. It was about a mile and a half to the lookout, which was just off the trail marked by a orange ribbon tied to a tree. 

The view here was stunning, overlooking the Columbia River/Reservoir and surrounding mountains. I’m sure the view from any of those peaks would have been even better, but we were just happy to have found a hike suitable for Charlotte. We stayed here a good long while before making our way back down the hill. Back at the van, we rewarded ourselves with a snack of cottage cheese and fruit. This has become another part of van life that we absolutely love — the ability to return from a hike and immediately be “home”, and be able to make and enjoy a healthy snack or lunch at the trailhead.

We returned to BC-6 and continued heading Southeast to tonight’s chosen boondocking spot, Bannock Point on Slocan Lake. This is more like a walk-in dispersed camping area, but we had heard that it was okay to park overnight. We figured that if anyone really had a problem with us sleeping in our van here, we could just take our tent out and go camp in one of the sites. We parked at the trailhead and went for a short walk on the trail leading down to the lake. As the trail descended steeply, it started to become rocky and crossed a couple creeks, which Charlotte wasn’t a fan of. Eventually we turned back around and made our way back to the trailhead. 

Curtis had read that from the end of the trail, you could kayak across the lake and see a waterfall. I offered to let him go experience that while I stayed with Charlotte, who had found a nice spot in the shade and was content to nap there for the rest of the afternoon. 

Curtis: The trail from the car down to the lake shore was very steep and easily the hardest part of this outing. It was made doubly hard because I had to carry the kayak. And it was triply hard because I forgot the paddles at the car and had to climb up and down an extra time. But, all things considered, this type of outing is also the precise reason why we bought the OruKayak: portability. I just wish I could make it strap to my back easier.

Once fully set up, I pushed off onto Slocan Lake more or less heading straight across. As I left, I noticed that the lake shore I had left was very cliffy with many campers cliff diving into the lake. I also noticed that there seemed to be a rocky outcrop way up high that might be a good place to view the sunset. The other side had a couple of rustic looking cabins and a beach that appeared to have at least one beached kayak so I angled towards that as my destination.

The paddle across was uneventful, and soon I had beached the kayak and started walking along the shore. There was a family who had paddled across and was staying the night. Between them, all those cliff divers, and the number of cars we would see in the parking lot, this was easily the busiest campground we stayed at while in Canada.

The area I was now hiking through is all part of Valhalla Provincial Park and it is almost completely inaccessible except by boat. But this was clearly a popular destination and the loop trail I took to the falls was well maintained. I took my time at the upper, middle, and lower falls, taking pictures and enjoying the cool spray, and then returned to the kayak and had an equally uneventful paddle back across the lake.

Jess: After dinner and with Charlotte tucked into bed, Curtis and I wandered up another trail until we found the lookout he had seen. It was yet another lovely view over the lake and of the surrounding peaks, made especially beautiful with the golden glow of sunset.

The next day was our final day in Canada, but we still had at least one activity planned. We continued our drive on BC-6 heading East to the town of Castlegar, where we drove up to the trailhead for Dove Hill. The trail starts just outside of a country club/golf course, but parking was well marked. We started on the trail, heading through the woods on a flat path. Being a Saturday morning, the area was busier with many other hikers and trail runners. As we walked, we spotted cherry and apple trees, enjoyed the blooming wildflowers along the way, and Curtis was able to identify (and eat) Saskatoon (or Juneberry) an edible blueberry-esque fruit that was quite abundant. 

The trail eventually emerged from the woods and began switchbacking up the hill, exposed to the sun. After a few switchbacks I started to worry about Charlotte, and told Curtis to keep going up while I let her rest. I convinced her to sit with me and drink some water, but could only keep her content for so long until she decided she needed to go find Curtis. This led to us walking up the hill even faster, hardly stopping until we finally ran into him near a lookout. We stopped here to give her a break and enjoy the view over the valley. It’s somewhat fitting that our last hike in Canada (for this trip) would be here, overlooking the confluence of the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers – though truthfully we didn’t realize this until much later.

Once we finished the hike, we drove back into Castlegar and stopped at Tim Hortons for one last time on this trip. Finally, it was time to cross the border. We drove South to the Northeastern-most border crossing between BC and WA, realizing it was a good thing we didn’t delay our crossing because this one has limited hours. Crossing into the US was the most thorough check that we had experienced on this trip, with the border agent wanting to take a look inside the van, but she was very friendly and chatty and we made it through fine, and continued on our way.

Since today was Saturday, we didn’t want to delay finding a campsite, so we ended up driving to Campbell Park Campground, a free site near Colville National Forest, hosted by the local power authority. They operate the hydro-electric dam that is right next to the park, which we spent time admiring while Charlotte enjoyed the manicured lawn. It was pretty busy, but we managed to find a more isolated spot. Thankfully between being in our enclosed van with window covers and the fan running, we could barely hear the country music being blasted at a nearby group site