okanagan

Bear Creek Provincial Park – 7 Valuable Tips To Get The Best Site

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https://secure.camis.com/DiscoverCamping/BearCreek

Bear Ck 2b

When our kids were young we kicked off summer by heading to Bear Creek Provincial Park for the Canada Day long weekend. It felt like the official start of summer and you could almost be guaranteed to have good weather. Kelowna has a great Canada Day Festival in town with lots to do for the entire family and even without Canada Day you will most certainly be able to find something fun to do. The last time we were at Bear Creek was in 2004, this is largely due to the fact the park is hard to reserve, but these notes are based on those trips so the next time I am in Kelowna I will go back to check it out again.

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Bear Ck 30b

This campground is great for young families. At least back then, the roads that looped around the campsite were one way, paved and flat so it’s was great for biking. There was also lots of green space and park area for games of bocci and lawn darts. They use to have a great kids program that we would go to every night and on Canada Day you could sit on the beach and watch the fire works in Kelowna. Bear Creek is also a short drive into West Bank or Kelowna so if the weather is not great it is easy to find something there to do.

Bear Ck 004

This campground is right on Okanagan Lake and it has a great beach. The down side is that it is on the shady side of the lake which means limited afternoon sun. Okanagan Lake is also very large so it can be cold early in the summer season. The messy issue was, goose poop, and tons of it, on the beach, on the grass, and often on your shoes, it was a bit gross.

The sites at this park are small but they are private and many back onto green space. We really only stopped going because the park was so popular it became impossible to get a reservations. There is an overflow area but back when we went it was just a large parking lot type area, not a destination to head to.

Bear Ck 002
Half of double site 47/48

The last time we went  we stayed in the double sites 47 & 49 with a third family staying in 50. These sites were good because they backed into green space and because we were with 2 other families it gave us room to play games and gather together. Our kids were young at the time so being off the lake a bit was nice. That first loop is also nice because it is near the swimming beach and the amphitheater nature shows and ranger activities.  Now that my kids are older I would pick the double sites of 55 & 57 or the single site 58. Although they do not have a lot of privacy they have a great view of the lake and area close to the beach,

 Campground Details

  • 7 Tips for Recommended Sites:
    1. If you want a double site I would pick 57/55 or 30/31 if you want lake view but are okay to give up some privacy, they are large sites with great views.
    2. For privacy, pick sites  52/54.
    3. Double site 47 & 49 are good because they back onto the green space and have privacy.
    4. The sites in the first 2 loops offer good shade but if you get into
    5. The 3rd loop (81-122) this is a newer area and if I recall it was a bit more open and much sunnier. In Kelowna shade is appreciated.
    6. For single sites try and get sites 58 or 59. Both are close to everything and 59 still offers good privacy.
    7. Since this review Bear Creek has added power to some sites. I am hoping to go back this year to update the review for 2021
  • Campground Highlights:
    1. Paved roads, great for biking
    2. Lake Okanagan – nice beach, great for swimming
    3. Flush toilets and clean showers
    4. Close to Kelowna and Westbank
    5. Nature house activities
    6. Good foliage between sites for privacy and shade
    7. Lots of green space for activities
    8. Playground for kids
  • Campground Lowlights
    1. Goose Poo everywhere on the beach and grass
    2. The lake is cold and windy early in the summer season
    3. Very hard to get into.
    4. Sites in loops 81 – 122 are not very treed.
    5. It is a drive to any activities or hiking
  • Things to do
    1. Swimming & beach activities
    2. Playground
    3. Kelowna wineries (25 minutes from campground)
    4. Westbank Wineries (20 minutes from campground)
    5. Boat & sea-doo rentals rental (15 minutes from campground)
    6. Golf – many great location within a short drive
    7. Gyro Park – 18 minute drive – great city park and beach
  • Links
    1. Shannon Lakes Golf Course
    2. Mission Hill Winery
    3. Quails Gate Winery
    4. Gyro Park Beach
    5. 19th Green Putting Course
    6. West Side Go Karts
    7. H2O Adventure and Fitness Centre

WOW Golf Course, Penticton BC – Review

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Well the name says it all – WOW Golf:

  • WOW – The view!
  • WOW – The number of balls we lost!
  • WOW – The challenging greens!
  • WOW – I am so glad we had a cart!
  • WOW – That was a fun round of golf!

This unique and challenging 9 hole course is worth an afternoon of golf. We were camping at OK Falls Provincial Park and planned to golf each morning and hit wineries in the afternoon. After a round at WOW Golf I think we might have been smarter to hit the wineries before the golf course.

Continue reading →

Haynes Point – Why This Campground Needs To Be On Your List!

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Haynes Point Provincial Park – Osoyoos, BC

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We have only been lucky enough to book into this campground once. It is likely the most popular provincial campground there is and if you want a site you will have to get up  before 8:00, 3 months before the date you want to camp and start trying to book it, even then you are lucky if you get in. We were able to get the site because I logged on about the same time as someone was cancelling their reservation and I scooped it up. Otherwise, good luck!

We were there at the end of August and stayed in site 10. It was not a lake front site but we took what we could get. Osoyoos is always very hot, but the good thing is there is often a wind coming off the lake. It’s a hot wind but at least it’ a wind. The downfall with the wind, you can’t really tarp for shade and sometimes it is even risky to leave your awnings up . That being said, if you don’t like the hot sun, you likely are not booked in Osoyoos. One of the most unique things about the campground were the quails. They were everywhere and they very tame. The kids loved to watch them scurry around the site.

Haynes point has water on 3 sides but if you aren’t lucky enough to get one of the lake front site then you have to walk to the campground beach or drive into the great city beach. It is not a long drive into the city beach (Gyro Park) and there is also a great tourist strip with mini golf, ice cream stores and lots of other tourist attractions. There is not shortage of things to do in Osoyoos and being a desert climate there is always great weather to enjoy.

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Here is my advise for this campground.

  • Recommended Sites: It has been 10 years since we camped at Haynes point so may notes are limited and likely very old. I will write what notes I have and update them the next time we are in the area. I noted double sites 22/23 as well as 27/28 as good. Best on their location they have the best chance as some shade and you can position your camping vehicle to increase the shade. They also had reasonable access to the lake. (that may have changed over the years.) For single sites I would try to get 20 or 25. They had good privacy, access to the lake and you could position your vehicles to increase your shade.
  • Campground Highlights:
    1. Dry hot weather is very dependable
    2. Large warm lake that is great for swimming or boating
    3. Flush toilets
    4. Plenty to do in the town for all ages
    5. Beach at the day use area
  • Campground Lowlights:
    1. No showers
    2. No hook ups
    3. Limited shade options
    4. Very hard to make reservations for
    5. Many of the lake front sites are a bit marshy
  • Things to do
    1. Wineries
    2. Swimming
    3. Water skiing
    4. Parasailing
    5. Banana boating
    6. Paddle boarding
    7. Jet skiing
    8. Golf
  • Links
    1. Rattlesnake Canyon
    2. Owl Eco Tour
    3. Wineries

Kettle Valley Railway Hike – Kelowna, BC

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Blairs Iphone 498Myra Canyon Society mapPart of the famous Kettle Valley Railroad runs through Kelowna and is spectacular.

This 12 km portion of the former  railway goes through the Myra Canyon and is a great ride for bicyclists of all levels. As you ride, walk or run along the railway bed you will cross 18 trestles and go through 2 tunnels. You will marvel at the turn of the century engineering used to construct the mountainous railway and these amazing structures. Continue reading →

Bear Creek Provincial Park – Kelowna, BC

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Another great BC campground that fills up fast. Enjoy the sunny #Okanagan #wine country with plenty for the kids to do. #tmom

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https://secure.camis.com/DiscoverCamping/BearCreek

Bear Ck 2b

When our kids were young we kicked off summer by heading to Bear Creek Provincial Park for the Canada Day long weekend. It felt like the official start of summer and you could almost be guaranteed to have good weather.  Kelowna has a great Canada Day Festival in town with lots to do for the entire family and even without Canada Day you will most certainly be able to find something fun to do. The last time we were at Bear Creek was in 2004, this is largely due to the fact the park is hard to reserve, but these notes are based on those trips so the next time I am in Kelowna I will go back to check it out again.

Bear Ck 30b This campground is great for young families. At least back then, the roads that looped around the campsite were one way, paved and flat so it’s…

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Haynes Point Provincial Park – Osoyoos BC

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1 week until Discover Camping, BC’s provincial campground reservation system, opens up. For campgrounds like Haynes Point you have to be booking right at opening. Check out this blog before booking.

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http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/haynes_pt/

th (1)

We have only been lucky enough to book into this campground once. It is likely the most popular provincial campground there is and if you want a site you will have to get up  before 8:00, 3 months before the date you want to camp and start trying to book it, even then you are lucky if you get in. We were able to get the site because I logged on about the same time as someone was cancelling their reservation and I scooped it up. Otherwise, good luck!

We were there at the end of August and stayed in site 10. It was not a lake front site but we took what we could get. Osoyoos is always very hot, but the good thing is there is often a wind coming off the lake. It’s a hot wind but at least it’ a wind. The downfall with the…

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Shuswap Lake Provincial Park – Scotch Creek , BC

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http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/shu_lk/

Copy (2) of Copy of Copy of Copy of IMG_0580

Growing up in Kamloops, I have been going to Shuswap Lake Provincial Park for years and it has been interesting to see how the area around it has changed. Shuswap Lake Campground is a very large park with 274 sites located on the beautiful Shuswap Lake. The park features paved roads, a playground, interpretive programs, hiking trails, bike trails, a boat launch, and a lake for swimming with a long sandy/pebble beach. The park also includes Copper Island which is only accessible by boat but is a fun day trip and provides activities like hiking and cliff diving. Although the park is large, it is very popular, so you will need to book your stay 3 months in advance in order to get a site. Continue reading →

Okanagan Lake Provincial Park – Summerland, BC

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http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/okana_lk/

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View from double site 48/49

You’ve got to love the Okanagan in the summer:  sun, wineries, lakes. Granted, you don’t get the famous British Columbia mountains and trees, but the weather and warmth are so nice for us Lower Mainlanders. We try to head there at least once every summer. Okanagan Lake Provincial Park is located between Kelowna and Penticton, on the west side of Okanagan Lake… 11 km north of Summerland. This is on the side of the lake that gets shade in the afternoon so that can be both a good thing and bad thing. Continue reading →

Magna Bay Resort – Shuswap Lake, BC

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Magna Bay Resort – Shuswap Lake, BC

Magna Bay Campsite
Magna Bay Campsite

For 2 years now we have camped at Magna Bay Campground in July to kick off summer. I have family with a cabin nearby and it is a tradition for everyone to head there for the long weekend. The campground is not right on the lake but it does have piece of property across the highway that has a small beach and dock.

Skip directly to my campground advise.

This campground drastically changed from the first year we went in 2013 to the next year. It appears Magna Bays main business is selling RV lots or long term rentals so the set up is geared to get the maximum number of trailers into one space. You can see by the resort map that it is no longer a campground but a RV resort. At this time you can still rent a campsite for a night or two but as they sell more and take on long term rental I am sure the selection of sites will get slimmer and slimmer. When we stayed last year we had sites 70 & 71. Each site has a gravel pad that backs onto another gravel pad so when you are parked the back of your trailer is only feet away from the trailer behind you. You also get a small grass area with a picnic table and another gravel area for your fire pit.

The grass areas are lined with cedar trees but at this time they are very small and offer no privacy. I was in site 70 and my sister and her family were in 71 but now that we have seen the new set up we should have booked her into site 25. This way when she backed her trailer in we would have shared the same green space area. It was interesting because her families site had a very wide gravel trailer pad and fellow campers would just walk through her site as if it was a path. I found it interesting to see the typical camping etiquette not followed here, I am thinking because it was more of a resort community than a campground. Either way I was not a fan. All the sites from 2 to 79 are pull through sites so they back onto another site. If you are traveling with other families keep that in mind when booking. Also keep in mind there is NO privacy. When you go to bed you can hear the full conversations of the site behind you and next to you. Because this is a vacation resort and many campers own or are long term rentals there were a lot of group campfires and loud music so I found it to be a very noisy campground. There was also a problem with the hook ups. This was really the first weekend the campground had a big test of the septic system and not surprisingly there were problems. The trailer behind my sister had septic issues so the smell coming from the ground was terrible. Understandably they needed to work on this and often had to trek through her site to do that. Not once did they come and talk to her about this, apologize or offer to move her. They just ran hoses and made noise as if there was no one around.

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The dock at Magna Bay with the beach in the background
Moms IPhone 078
Celista Winery

Like I mentioned there is a beach but it was very small and it is squished between two privately owned cabins so there is no way to get away from the crowds. There is a grassy area just above the beach but it is small and right on the main road so not relaxing. If you have one of the back sites in the campground the beach is also a bit of a hike but not more than your typical campground. Magna Bay resort also offers boat and kayak rentals, this is an added bonus if you have it in your budget. They also have a great dock which is nice to swim off of or float from.

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Cliff jumping off Copper Island

Shuswap Lake is a warm lake and even in early July we were able to take a dip. Other than the obvious lake and beach activities there is plenty to do in the area. That trip we visited Celista Winery, it is the most northern winery in BC. There is also Anglemont Golf Course which is a fun course with some challenging sloped greens. Scotch Creek Provincial Park is only 10 minutes away and it offers great beaches, bike rentals and bike riding trails.Shuswap has always been one of my favorite lakes to visit but unless you like the very close, pull through RV style camping I cannot recommend this campground. There are many campgrounds around this area so if you are looking for a private outdoor experience I would say, keep looking.

Here is my advise for this campground

  • Recommended Site: If you can get any site that don’t back onto another site that would be the best. 61 to 78 would work best. If you are camping with another family be sure to get sites that back onto each other like 70/25 or 71/22. Avoid 67/26 because there is only a row of shrubs between the site and the washroom walkway and there are lights on all night.
  • Campground Highlights:
    1. Located in the sunny Shuswap providing great weather.
    2. Beach access with a grassy area for tanning
    3. Great dock for swimming off and docking from
    4. Boat launch and boat storage
    5. Boat rental at office
    6. Laundry facilities and clean washrooms
    7. Full hook ups
    8. Grass area at each site makes for very clean camping
    9. Pull through sites.
  • Campground Lowlights
    1. Sites are very close together with no trees or foliage for privacy
    2. Playground was not built nor was the club house.
    3. Beach is very small for the number of sites
    4. No dog beach
    5. Pull through sites mean you are backing onto another trailer.
  • Things to do
    1. Swimming and floating in the lake
    2. Boat rental for ski boats, pontoon boats and sea-doos along with all tubing and skiing equipment.
    3. Winery
    4. Golf
    5. Hiking
    6. Biking
    7. Fishing nearby
    8. Cliff jumping at Copper Island but boat access only.
  • Links 
    1. Celista Estate Winery – http://www.celistawine.com/
    2. Shuswap Lake Estates Golf Course – http://www.shuswaplakeestates.com/
    3. Adams River – http://www.troutsalmonchar.com/Pages/ART_Thom_Adams.php
    4. Scotch Creek Provincial Park – http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/shu_lk/