One of the busiest camping destinations in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley is Bear Creek Provincial Park, located on the west shore of Okanagan Lake, across from Kelowna. This 178 hectare (440 acre) park is open from April to October with camping fees in effect throughout the season. To reach Bear Creek Provincial Park, turn west off Highway 97, two kilometres south of the Okanagan Lake floating bridge, and follow Westside Road north for seven kilometres. To get to the park from Highway 97 near O'Keefe Historic Ranch, northwest of Vernon, follow Westside Road south for 57 kilometres.

Wild Canyons to Waterfront...
Westside Road acts as the boundary between two quite different natural environments that create a diversity well worth exploring. To the west, Lambly (Bear) Creek cuts a spectacular steep-walled canyon in its final descent from the rugged 1800-metre-high Pennask Plateau. In the hundred centuries since the last ice age, the rushing water has created a fan-shaped delta in Okanagan Lake, to the east of Westside Road.

Wildlife and waterfalls...
Above and on either side of the canyon, ponderosa pine and Douglas fir dominate the dry, rocky hills. Communities of juniper, bunchgrass, Indian paintbrush, arrowleaf balsamroot, Oregon grape and prickly-pear cactus compete for the area's meagre rainfall. Below, in the shady confines of the canyon, moistened by the mist rising off the waterfalls, is yet another world. It is one of maple and birch, of saskatoon and chokecherry, of wild rose, horsetail and moss.

Wildlife abounds here. Swallows swoop gracefully through the canyon, red-tailed hawks ride warm afternoon updrafts high above, and owls hoot the night away as they have for centuries. Tree-frogs are noisiest in the spring; the crickets click in the summer; and the voices of the coyotes occasionally drift down from the hills.

A network of trails encircles the lower canyon, with parking available south of the Lambly Creek bridge, west of Westside Road. Note that there are some very steep cliffs along the canyon walls. For safety reasons, stay on the trails when hiking. A loop hike on the mid-canyon trail to the canyon rim and then upstream to the footbridge presents an excellent example of typical north-slope environment in desert country. The walk back down the north side of the canyon is much drier. Watch for the remnants of an old irrigation ditch near viewpoint #5. Because of the west-east flow of Lambly Creek, early to mid-morning could be the best time to photograph the waterfalls on the canyon floor.

Once a working ranch...
The park campground, day-use picnic area and boat launch facilities are on the delta of Lambly (Bear) Creek. Once an integral part of Bear Creek Ranch, the S.M. Simpson Sawmill Company purchased the site from the ranch for its logging activities, and later sold it to Crown Zellerbach Canada Limited. In 1981, the British Columbia government purchased the land from Crown Zellerbach for a provincial park. As a condition of sale, Crown Zellerbach maintained the rights to continue its booming activities north and south of the main beaches.

When the park originally opened in the early 1980s, it contained 80 campsites, but a $400,000 expansion completed in the 1997 added another 42 campsites plus associated facilities. There are now 122 campsites, plus showers and washrooms with flush toilets. In addition to the canyon trails, there are lakeshore trails and over 400 metres of sandy beach. At the amphitheatre, a park interpreter provides interesting programs from mid-June to early September.

Additional information available from: Okanagan Trips & Trails: A guide to Backroads and Hiking Trails in BC's Okanagan/Similkameen, and B.C. Parks, P.O. Box 399, Summerland, B.C. V0H 1Z0