The Bear Creek trail network is located within Bear Creek Provincial Park, which also features a full-service, lakeside campsite. The park's trails present one of the easiest to access hikes in the Okanagan and offer an excellent base from which to explore both Bear Creek and Fintry Provincial Park, located 25km to the north of Bear Cr. .While these two areas may offer some of the most frequented hikes in the valley, they are not to be missed.

As an aside; Bear Cr. is technically known as Lamby Cr., I've not dug into why its also referred to as Bear Cr., though based on numerous bits of scat I noted while onsite, it may be due to local denizens :-)

Bear Creek Provincial Park features lakeside camping, over 400 meters of sandy beaches and five kilometers of well-marked hiking trails.

The park is very busy during the warm months and reservations are required to camp here. Conveniently, the park sports a concession stand operated by the park facility operator. The 178 hectare park is located approximately 10km west of Kelowna, off Hwy.97 - 3km from Kelowna to the Westside Rd. junction with Hwy.97, and a further 7km or so along Westside Rd.

The campground offers hot showers, an amphitheater, fresh water and a lot more. Check out BC Parks Bear Creek Park website for more info.

Click the image header above to see some great snapshots of the area. Kudos to Vanessa ("Veggy") and Neal Maben for their photographic contributions to this chapter. The usual Google Maps links to the area are here, and the topographical map is here.

A beautiful canyon has been carved into the bedrock by Bear Creek, forming a small alluvial fan which hosts the BC Park campground. On the east side of Westside Rd. lies the Bear Creek campground, to the west lies the Bear Creek hiking trails, tracing the edges of the steep canyon walls.

Aside from the great views and excellent trail surface, one of the best things about the Bear Creek trails is their accessibility to hikers of all age and skill level. The trails are not fit for mountain bike or equestrians, but may be passable by determined hikers and snow shoe enthusiasts during the winter.

The trail system, complete with outhouses at the start and far end of the loop, was designed and constructed by park ranger Dave Brewer. David was a long term parks employee, ski school instructor and canoe builder. Unfortunately, Dave lost his life in Wells Gray Provincial Park from a lightning strike in 1991.

The Bear Creek trail network may be enjoyed in three different loops; the eponymously titled Loop trail (15 min.), the slightly longer Mid-Canyon trail and the largest of the trio, the Canyon Rim trail (one hour+). Even as the big brother of the three, the Canyon Rim trail still only clocks in at around two and a half kilometers.

The Canyon Rim trail makes its way around the steepest sections of the creek, crossing the watershed at a low point, and completing a loop back to the parking lot trailhead. Along the way are four amazing look off points, several rugged wooden stairways and numerous scenic rest stops.

On Sept. 6th, 2011, the lower reaches of the park were savaged by a man-made fire. At present, the smallest loop is closed to the public so that forest workers may remove hazardous trees. Case in point why not to play with fire while recreating in the forests of British Columbia.

As such, the initial entry to the park appears somewhat scorched, but this soon gives way to a beautiful Ponderosa Pine / Douglas Fir forest with differing microclimates on the north and south faces of the Bear Creek canyon. As you descend to cross the creek mid-loop, you exit the arid forest and enter a world of maple, birch, saskatoon bush and wild roses.

For those of you who enjoy taking Fido on walks, keep in mind that this is an on-leash-only trail network.

Total elevation gain for this easily accessed adventure is a meager 117m meters; enjoy!