British Columbia Magazine

My favourite outdoor activity is geocaching. It is similar to treasure hunting using a handheld GPS. I would love to spend a week or two traveling across B.C. finding as many geocaches as I can. (collapse)

A few of my favourite day trips to make around Abbotsford: visit the many farms, pick berries, mini golf at Cultus Lake, walk Mill Lake, visit a wine farm, visit a tea house in Abbotsford, visit the local library, drive along Mount Lehman to dream about a future house, visit old clayburn candy store, and visit the apple barn in October for pumpkins. (collapse)

I love walking around in Vancouver! It's such a beautiful city with so much to see and do! (collapse)

Sea kayaking with orcas in Johnstone Strait is a world-renowned adventure. Few people, however, take it one step farther and paddle north into the Broughton Archipelago. As you paddle north from Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island, you can leave the chaos of fishing boats, cruise ships, whale watchers, and other kayak groups behind and find a maze of tight passages and islands draped in moss and shrouded in mystery. Many of these islands contain signs of First Nations settlements from 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. Village Island, near the middle of the archipelago, is the site of a famous historical potlatch. You can still walk through the remains of ancient longhouses and see even older house posts and totem poles that are slowly decaying and returning to the Earth. Not only is it possible to paddle with orca, humpback, and Minke whales in Johnstone Strait and Blackfish Sound, but you will find more seals, sea lions, river otters, porpoises, dolphins, mink and solitude the further you travel into the Broughtons. The intertidal life underwater is just as amazing as what you see around you. Check out Steller Sea Kayaking for tours led by professional biologists and archeologists. (collapse)

My husband and I love the outdoors. We spend our summer weekends going from one camping ground to the next. Two years ago we discovered canoeing and camping on magnificent Murtle Lake in Wells Gray Provincial Park. In this wilderness paradise, where motorboats are restricted, you can experience complete silence and stillness in nature. Murtle Lake has 57 square kilometers of surface area and one arm extends deep into the rugged Cariboo Mountains, while the other pushes westward and sports sandy beaches and many little islands. Hiking trails to alpine areas and waterfalls provide optional activities. The area is rich with a variety of wild berries to be picked and savoured in season. The mighty Murtle River flows out of this lake and crashes over seven waterfalls and many rapids before it falls over the world famous Helmcken Falls and into the Clearwater River. Access to this area is via a 26-kilometre gravel road and a two-kilometre portage, making it available for any who truly seek the wilderness. In our busy world, Murtle Lake offers a precious sanctuary from which one can return refreshed in mind, body, and spirit. (collapse)