A Road Trip through BC’s Interior

November 29, 2025November 20, 2025 / Maria / Leave a comment

Similar to my trip to Berg Lake, Seth and I took a whole week off when we visited South Chilcotin Provincial Park, with our backpacking trip to Taylor Creek only being one part of the trip. After we finished the hike, we returned to Lillooet and then had two days of road tripping to get from Lillooet to Keremeos, where I’d be meeting Carolyn to hike in Cathedral Provincial Park. We spent the first night at Seton Dam Campsite outside Lillooet. It’s a first-come-first-serve campground that’s managed by BC Hydro. It was surprisingly busy considering it was a Tuesday night, but it’s a nice site.

We made hash browns and eggs at the campsite and then packed up to go adventuring for the day. Our first stop was just up the road to do the Seton Lake Viewpoint Trail. It’s a short trail, less than 1km round trip, that goes up to a viewpoint that overlooks the road and Seton Lake. It’s weirdly popular on instagram because there’s an cool curve on Duffey Lake Road that people like to photograph. Personally, I don’t really get the attraction, but we were close to it, and it’s so short, I figured, why not. Maybe I’m wrong though because Sadie seemed really into it! She seemed to like watching all the cars zoom by, so we hung around for a bit, heading back to the car before it got too hot.

Our next stop was to visit the lake itself. I’d been to Lillooet once before in the winter, but I didn’t stop at the lake. It’s a dammed lake and BC Hydro has developed it into a really nice rec site. You can paddle on the lake, but it does appear to get quite windy, even early in the day. Lillooet was forecasting to reach temperatures of 35 degrees celsius, so our plan was to enjoy a nice little swim. It was early in the day and we had the beach mostly to ourselves. We didn’t find the water too cold, even though it was early. We ended up having the nicest swim and lounged on the beach for a while before continuing on to our next destination for the day.

I have this book at home called “125 hot spots in British Columbia”. I had a look at it before the trip and was intrigued by Marble Canyon Provincial Park. It wasn’t on the most direct route, but it was close enough to Lillooet, that I decided it was a worthy detour, especially since I was travelling with Seth (a biologist). It ended up being the highlight of our two day road trip, so I’m glad we added it to the itinerary.

Marble Canyon Provincial Park is located north of Lillooet on Highway 99. It’s a series of lakes and has a frountcountry campground. But what really makes this park popular is what’s below the surface of the lakes. Pavilion Lake is home to microbialites, a type of sedimentary deposit that bands together overtime to create freshwater stromatolites. These are underwater structures that solidify into formations, similar to stalagmites, and it’s one of the few places in the world where you can find them. There are best viewed using scuba diving equipment, but it is possible to see them with a snorkel.

Seth remembered learning about the lake in university and was excited about the prospect of visiting. However, our first stop was to Crown Lake, which is where the campground and day use area are located. There’s a few picnic tables located down by the beach, so we cooked up some pesto pasta for lunch while taking turns swimming in the lake. It’s a small lake, with a waterfall located on the opposite shore. I’d planned to swim over there to see it, but while we were eating, we noticed a black bear hanging out on the other side eating berries, so I scrapped that plan.

After lunch, we drove back to Pavilion Lake to look for stromatolites. There’s a few pull outs along the road where you can walk down to the water. We found a nice spot and did a little bit of snorkeling. Regardless of whether we saw stromatolites or not, it was a nice place to snorkel. We took turns swimming while someone hung out with Sadie on the shore. We didn’t see any large stromatolites and we’re honestly not sure if we saw them at all, but Seth thinks we were still able to see the deposits along the rocks in the area, even if they weren’t large structures. We’re not scuba divers, so we were happy with the experience regardless.

After we’d had our fill of the lake, we continued towards Cache Creek, stopping at Horsting’s Farm Market along the way. It’s a huge market with fresh lemonade, ice cream, an apple orchard, and lots of treats. We had the fresh lemonade, which was delicious, as well as a few snacks. I learned after the fact that Cache Creek is also home to the famous Desert Hills Taco Stand. We did see it, and now regret not stopping for it, so hopefully next time!

We drove Highway 97C to Merritt, which I’d never driven before, and discovered the existence of a huge copper mine off the highway. If you’ve ever driven this highway, you’ll know what I’m talking about it. It basically looks like a giant salt flat. It’s cool to see, but it was so unexpected that it really took us by surprise. With the introduction of tariffs this year, I’ve been learning more about our exports and found it interesting to learn that almost half of Canada’s copper is produced in BC and that the mine we passed, Highland Valley, is actually the largest copper mine in Canada.

Our final stop for the night was Lundbom Lake Rec Site, located just outside of Merritt. There’s a bunch of rec sites in the area and they’re all first-come-first-serve, but have full time BC Parks Staff on site. It’s a couple kilometres of driving on gravel road to access the site, but it’s well maintained. Bring cash to pay for your site if you visit. It’s quite a nice site and has more than 100 campsites, but apparently it fills up quickly on the weekends, so plan accordingly. The highlight for me was sitting on the dock and watching the sun set over the lake.

On the last day of our road trip, we drove from Lundbom to Cathedral Provincial Park. It’s not a long drive, so we took our time with lots of stops. We made a quick visit to Kentucky-Alleyne Provincial Park, which is a very popular frontcountry site. Honestly, I thought Lundbom was nicer, but it’s cool having 2 lakes back to back at Kentucky-Alleyne. We also stopped at Allison Lake, which was an interesting lake. It’s a sandy beach lake, but the sand is very silty, almost like clay, so you sink down into it and it stirs up a lot of sediment with every step. I kind of got the feeling that Allison Lake used to be a lot nicer. The water level of the lake has clearly receded a lot in recent years, and it had the vibe of a washed up beach town. It was nice, but not super memorable.

We had lunch in Princeton and then spent a few hours exploring some of the attractions. It was disappointing to discover that very few small towns have any dog friendly restaurants. We had a similar experience in both Lillooet and Princeton – there were restaurants with patios, but none of them were dog friendly, so it was a struggle with Sadie. We ended up eating at a taco restaurant that had a table and some chairs outside.

In the afternoon, we did a short walk along the Kettle Valley Rail Trail, which is an iconic trail that extends hundreds of kilometres along the old railway track. This section of trail has an old tunnel and you used to be able to hike to the Red Ochre Bluffs, but the bridge was washed out in 2021 and it hasn’t been replaced yet. It was cool to visit the tunnel, but it is a little eerie. We also walked over to Swan Lake Wildlife Refuge, which is a protected area that’s supposed to be good for birdwatching, but it’s pretty underwhelming in the middle of a hot day (unsurprisingly).

From there, our only plan was to drive to the trailhead for Cathedral, but I was really keen to take a river bath before starting my next hike, since we’d been camping for 5 nights at this point. This trip was a bit different than my normal summer trips in that I didn’t book any campsites and we planned to just hit up first-come-first-serve campgrounds along the way. So our plan was pretty fluid. This is easy to do during the weekdays, but I still recommend booking campsites where possible on the weekends, or planning to arrive early to campgrounds. Some areas of the province have more rec site options than others and the area around Princeton had tons of options! So if you’re ever looking to do some leisurely camping, Highway 3 between Princeton and Keremeos is a great location.

All this is to say that I decided to target Bromley Rock Provincial Park as a good location for my river bath. It’s located right off the highway outside of Princeton and it has a frontcountry campground and a day use area. It’s a really nice river pool for swimming and it was surprisingly busy for a Thursday afternoon. If you go to the far end of the parking lot where the outhouses are, you can walk down another trail towards the river (away from the pool). It’s not as nice for swimming, but it’s more private, though people do fish along the river. We found a more secluded spot and took the opportunity to use my pocket shower to clean up a bit. Smelling much better than before, we continued on to Keremeos to pick up some Thai food for supper.

The final part of our route was to take Ashnola Road down to the Cathedral Park entrance. Cathedral is a remote park that is most well known for the Rim Trail. It’s an alpine, desert-like environment filled with lots of mountain goats and breathtaking stone structures and monuments. When I told the park operator at Lundbom that I was going to Cathedral Park, he described his experience there as “spiritual”. It’s a somewhat popular park, but not crowded because of the limited access. It’s ~15km to hike into the core area of the park, which used to be home to 3 campgrounds and a lodge. In the past, most people would access the park core area by shuttle bus through the lodge, avoiding over 1000m of elevation gain.

Unfortunately, half of the park burned down in 2023 when a forest fire tore up the valley all the way to the lodge before they were able to contain it. The lodge is still standing, but 2 of the campgrounds burned down, along with the bridge that connected the lodge to Ashnola Road. The park re-opened this past summer to hikers, but the lodge is still closed until the bridge is repaired, so your only option is to hike into the park.

Two back-to-back hiking trips did not interest Seth, so he was dropping me in Cathedral and Carolyn would be joining me to hike for 4 more days. There are two rec sites along the road, one is right at the Lakeview Trailhead, and the other is a few kilometres away, called Buckhorn. We camped at Lakeview, but it only has a single walk-in site and no outhouse, so I wouldn’t recommend it. We ended up just camping in the parking lot since we were the only ones there. I didn’t drive down to Buckhorn, but from the map, it looks like a more traditional rec site. It was a bit of an anti-climatic end to our road trip, but we had one night along the river before starting our hike the following day. Stay tuned to hear about my experience in Cathedral Provincial Park!

Hell’s Gate and Alexandria Bridge Park

April 16, 2025March 13, 2025 / Maria / Leave a comment

A few years ago, me and Carolyn did a 1-night backpacking trip on the Tikwalus Heritage Trail. It’s a ~12km loop train located off Highway 1 past Hope. It’s a nice trail and we had a good time exploring the area, but what was most notable for me was the realization that, in the 8 years I’d been living in BC at the time, I’d never actually driven on Highway 1 past Hope. All of my adventures either take me up the Sea-to-Sky or out the Coquihalla Highway towards Kamloops or Kelowna.

Past Hope, Highway 1 falls the Fraser River upstream to the Fraser Canyon. I’ve been wanting to travel there for several years to go whitewater rafting, but a lot of the rafting companies were impacted by the flooding in 2021. After doing the Tikwalus Heritage Trail, I was determined to spend some more time exploring the area. My timing was good, because my friend Gina works in the tourism industry and got 2 free tickets to Hell’s Gate for summer 2023. We decided to drag our husbands along and make a day of exploring along the canyon.

Hell’s Gate is a pretty cool tourist attraction. I had actually done it before when I visited BC as a teenager with my family, but I didn’t remember it very well, so I was happy to do it again. Hell’s Gate is named because it is the narrowest part of the Fraser Canyon, where the river comes rushing down from Lillooett and is forced through this narrow channel by the steep canyon walls. The canyon is only 35 metres wide at this section and has been an important location throughout history for many different reasons.

Traditionally, this part of the river was an important fishing ground for indigenous peoples in the region. During the gold rush, the canyon was frequented by miners trying to access the gold-rich bars upstream of the channel. Then, in the late 1800’s, the Canadian Pacific Railway constructed the first rail line against the bank of the channel. The railroad still passes through the canyon today, but it is much more easily accessible as a suspension bridge has been constructed at the base on the canyon, and an airtram transports hundreds of tourists from the highway down to the tourist centre.

It’s a cool site to visit, but it definitely has a dark history. A rockslide into the canyon in the early 1900’s, greatly impacted the fishery in the area by destroying salmon habitat. Today there are many fishways that have been constructed to assist in Salmon migration up to Adams Lake and there are several historical exhibits at the base of the river – including about the natural environment, the gold rush, and the many Chinese workers who perished constructing the railway.

So from a historical perspective, I think it’s a good place to visit, but it definitely needs some updating. The storyboards and information in the museums has clearly not be updated in years and I found it to be overly focused on colonial history and many of the terms and language used around the site are no longer politically correct. It might be a small criticism to some, but this is a site that a lot of tourists come through and I think it’s a bad look to be using updated terms and ideas in a place where people come to learn about local history.

As a natural phenomenon, the site is really cool and I loved the engineering aspect of it. There’s a beautiful view of the canyon from the tram and the bridge is a very cool structure. The bridge floor is just a grate, which means you can see all the way down to the river, so hold on to any lose items and hold on to your hat since it can get windy through the canyon!

We spent a few hours at Hell’s Gate and had lunch in the cafeteria. We decided to visit Alexandria Bridge Provincial Park, which is located nearby. It’s a very small park, but is the location of another suspension bridge. Like Hell’s Gate, this location on the Fraser River is also a traditional fishing ground for the local first nations and important for conservation. The bridge was first constructed in 1861 to connect the Anderson Brigade trail (according to BC Parks). I couldn’t find much information on this trail online, but I believe it is an extension of the Tikwalus Heritage Trail, which was used by the Hudson’s Bay Company as part of the fur trade in the mid 1800’s (but developed by the Nlaka’pamux).

It was cool to visit because I’ve now done the Tikwalus Heritage Trail, the HBC Heritage Trail (from Tulameen to Hope), and Alexandria Bridge. So there’s a lot of history and culture in this area and I’ve learned a lot over the past 2 years about the fur trade and the gold rush.

For more information on the trail, this is definitely just a road-side stop (not a whole day affair). There’s a parking lot on the side of the highway and it’s ~1km each way to hike down over the bank to the suspension bridge. The trail ends at the end of the suspension bridge, where it enters Nlaka’pamux Tribal Council land. It’s an easy trail – there are some shortcuts through the woods, but you can just follow the road down and it’s easy walking, but still a good work-out thanks for the elevation gain on the way back.

Our final stop of the day is probably familiar to anyone who’s driven out to Hope – Bridal Veil Falls. The Falls cascade down from Cheam Peak all year round and there’s a nice picnic area and walk up to the viewpoint. It’s only ~1km round trip, so another good roadside stop on a day out.

There’s no shortage of places to explore in BC. I tend to gravitate to some of the “big view” trails, but it was really nice to have a lazier day and explore some of the roadside stops and smaller attractions in the area, plus learn more about the local history. Even better if your friend has free passes for the airtram!

A Day in Portland

August 3, 2022August 20, 2024 / Maria / 2 Comments

After a great day at Cannon Beach we made our way to Portland. We didn’t have a lot on our agenda except for a bit of shopping, but it ended up taking up the entire day. We started with brunch at Mother’s Bistro, which was both fancy and delicious, before spending 2 hours a piece at Powell’s Bookstore and REI. I’m a huge bookworm (I actually have a second blog where I write book review if you want to check it out – The Paperback Princess), so I was super enthused to visit Powell’s. It was my second time and if possible, it was even bigger than I remembered. I spent the bulk of my time in the front of the store where all the sales and featured books were, and a little bit of time browsing the used books. I never even made it to the third floor.

The two things I love most about bookstores are learning about new reads that I wouldn’t have discovered otherwise, and browsing used books for good deals. I got to do both at Powell’s! I made a few impulses purchases of books that I thought sounded good or were featured, and found a few used books that I’ve been looking for. I don’t think I actually paid full price for anything and walked away with 6 books.

As for REI, it is a very popular outdoor store, basically the US version of MEC. Despite how popular it is, I’d actually never been, so I was excited to finally visit, especially since they had lots of 4th of July deals on. Unfortunately I didn’t really find any deals, but I did get a cute fanny pack and a new pair of shorts that I really like. Lien and Brandon got a few knick knacks as well and the afternoon pretty much got away from us and we finally checked into our hotel.

The bulk of our evening was dedicated to going on a little bit of a brewery crawl, which I love doing in Vancouver and most recently did in Calgary. We hit up a few popular breweries (Deschutes and Von Ebert’s), but the beer went to my head pretty fast. Well, at the time I blamed the beer for a bit of a headache, but I later learned it was the first symptom of covid presenting (boo!). So we cut the tour a little short and went in search of some sweet treats instead, with me and Lien getting cookies and Brandon, ice cream.

The real highlight of the trip though was a ghost tour that Brandon had found and signed us up for! It went around old town Portland and introduced us to its very sordid history. Due to its location near the Pacific and its status as a “port city”, Portland was a hotbed for human trafficking. The city has a very extensive tunnel system that runs throughout the entire old town and was used to smuggle men in and out of the town into a life of slavery aboard the ships running to China. They would be lured into the bars and once they were drunk, dropped into the tunnels and forced servitude. As a result, Portland has gained a new status as one of the most haunted cities in the world.

The tour was fascinating. We had a great tour guide and I loved that we learned so much actual history on top of the ghost stories. I did a walking tour when I visited Portland back in 2014, but it was entirely above-ground and focused on Portland’s more reputable history. I liked the ghost tour because I learned about whole other side of Portland that I knew nothing about.

The following day we had to head back to Vancouver, but first we decided to check out some of Portland’s most reputable waterfalls: Moltnomah and Wahkeena Falls. If you live in the PNW, you’ve probably already seen them both on instagram and I’m embarrassed to say, I was yet another tourist adding to the masses. My problem was that I didn’t do my research, something rare for me. We drove out the Columbia River only to discover that you need a day pass to visit the falls. The park rangers advised us we could visit Bridal Veil Falls instead, and not wanting the drive to be a total waste, we decided to do that.

Fortunately, Bridal Veil Falls was lovely and I really don’t feel like I missed out on anything. It’s a short walk to the waterfall and there’s a side walk with gorgeous views of Columbia gorge. We had stopped by a pastry shop on the way out of town for breakfast and picked up some delicious treats, which we ate while enjoying the view. It was a quick stop, but it was perfect for us because we still had 5 hours of driving to get back home.

Unfortunately for us, we had quite a long wait at the border and Brandon cursed both me and Lien for not having Nexus. In fact, the wait was so long that I had enough time to apply for Nexus while waiting. But overall, it was a really fun trip across the border. Portland is a bit of a far drive with the border crossing, but I was glad to finally visit after 8 years of hoping to return!