Whether you're an amateur botanist, wildlife or scenic photographer, an extreme hiker or a complete greenhorn on a horse, there's something here for everyone! Your British Columbia summer vacation destination!
Surrounded by magnificent mountain ranges, the West Chilcotin comprises a wide variation in geological landscape from rolling ranchland and high alpine valleys and lakes, to glacial rivers and dense rainforest. Each area
offers its own special cachet to the summer vacationer. Aside from fishing, There is hiking, horseback riding,
trail rides and pack trips, canoeing, boating, photography, flightseeing,
bird watching, and more.
Most accommodations hosts will be happy to arrange any of these activities for you.
Floatplanes are commonly used here and will allow you the opportunity to access a great deal of country otherwise inaccessible to man. The planes can take you into remote mountain lakes where you can hike alpine valleys and explore the incredible bounty of wild alpine flowers, many not seen anywhere else in the world. They can also help you access lakes such as the Turner Lake chain where you can canoe the chain for several days or hike the trailhead at Hunlen Falls. Or just go flightseeing where you can look down on snow - capped peaks and huge glaciers, plunging waterfalls, and wild mountain lakes.
Local outfitters will take you trail riding into the incredible Rainbow Range or Itcha Ilgachuz Range where you'll likely see an incredible variation of wildlife here. Moose, caribou, mule deer, mountain goat, wolves, coyotes, grizzly and black bear are plentiful, offering lots of opportunity for wildlife photography.
The country is perfect for hiking high mountain valleys full of wild flowers, glaciers and rainforest while birdwatchers will be fascinated with the lonely calls of loons on Nimpo Lake, the large population of Trumpeter Swans brought back from extinction by Ralph Edwards on Lonesome Lake and the antics of the Pelicans on Anahim Lake. Hawks, Bald Eagles, Kingfishers and a myriad of other species of birds are plentiful in summer.
This is a year round vacation paradise offering fishing, hiking, horseback riding, four-wheeling, canoeing, and photography in summer, and cross-country skiing and snowmobiling in winter.
Nimpo Lake is considered the 'Floatplane Capital' of British Columbia so there's lots of opportunity to go flightseeing. Since so much of this vast wilderness is inaccessible to man, the best way to see it is from a float plane!
Tweedsmuir Park forms the western and northern boundary of the West Chilcotin. Here you will find a wide variation from majestic mountain peaks and high alpine valleys, sweeping mountains formed of age old mineral deposits in glorious reds, oranges, and yellows that gave the Rainbow Mountains their name, to a rainforest type environment near sea level supporting a whole new range of flora and fauna. The park supports an extensive trail system, offers Salmon fishing on the Atnarko and Bella Coola River system, and canoeing on the Turner Lake Chain. It also has one of the largest grizzly bear populations in British Columbia, so take your camera!


Follow the links, and see what the West Chilcotin is really like!