British Columbia hiking and backpacking opportunities are everywhere. There are paved trails located in communities ideal for casual hikes exploring village centres, local parks and waterways. There are rough wilderness trails leading deep into the backcountry taking days, even weeks to complete. There are day hikes exploring mountain peaks, remote lakes and rivers. Combined the BC network of trails and parks covers over 11,400,000 hectares of land with over 3000 kilometres of trails.

The trail network in British Columbia is one of the best ways to discover the province. Trails explore through rainforests, cross deserts and grasslands and climb over mountains. Trails lead to waterfalls, heritage sites, remote lakes, caves, alpine flowering meadows, hot springs, forest tower lookouts, glaciers and sandy beaches. Some trails follow raging rivers, historic transportation routes, canyons and wagon roads.

Trails vary in difficulty, distance and maintenance. Community hiking trails are very well maintained. Most have a pebbled, gravel or paved walkway. It is very common to find sitting benches, picnic tables, washrooms, viewpoints, flower gardens, statues, memorials and shelters located along the developed trails located in a community.

There are thousands of walking, hiking and backpacking trails in the province we have researched and below are some of our favorites.

Some of the more popular community hiking and walking trails include the Tow Hill Trail near Masset on the Queen Charlotte Islands; the Wild Pacific Trail in Ucluelet on Vancouver Island; Forest for the World in Prince George in North BC; the Waterfront Pathway in Nelson and the Rotary Loop Trail in Golden located in the Kootenays and the Rivers Trail in Kamloops in the Thompson-Shuswap region.

Day hikes in BC are mainly located outside of the communities in a park or in the undeveloped forested backcountry. They tend to be more remote, rougher and sometimes are shared with mountain bikers and horseback riders. Most a well signed but, do your research, as some are not. On some of the more popular trails are information billboards, trail markers, picnic tables and pit toilets.

Some of the more popular day hikes include the Spirit Lake Trail near Skidegate on the Queen Charlotte Islands; Skookumchuck Narrows near Egmont on the Sunshine Coast; Twin Falls near Smithers in North BC; Begbie Lookout Trail and the Canim-Mahood Waterfall Trail near 100 Mile House in the Cariboo-Chilcotin-Coast region; the Greenway Trail in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley region; Shannon Falls Trail and the Stawanus Chief Trail in Squamish in the Whistler region; Galloping Goose Trail in Victoria and Sooke in the Vancouver Island region.

British Columbia, Canada is fortunate to have some of the countries most popular wilderness backpacking adventures. The trails extend for kilometres a day leading to wilderness campsites many with tent pads, food caches and pit toilets. Fires in the backcountry should be well managed and attended. Sometimes there are bans on fires during the forest fire season.

Some of the long haul backpacking adventures in BC worthy of your attention include the East Beach Trail near Tlell on the Queen Charlotte Islands; the West Coast Trail near Bamfield and Port Renfrew and the Cape Scott Trail near Port Hardy on Vancouver Island; the Sunshine Coast Trail near Lund and the Tetrahedron Park Trails near Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast; Monkman Park Trail near Tumbler Ridge in North BC; Kettle Valley Rail Trail in the Okanagan Valley region and the trails in Garibaldi Park near Whistler .

To minimize injury always hike in groups and travel at the pace of the slowest person. If a member of the party happens to get lost or injured it is important to always maintain calm and stay put. This makes it easier for search parties to locate you. When hiking and backpacking in the backcountry it is always important to leave a trip plan including departure and expected return dates with someone.

It is wise to pack with you some sort of signaling device such as flares and whistles. Stay visible so to be spotted from the air and start a fire. During the night seek shelter from the elements but in the day stay visible.The "it cannot happen to me" attitude is always the first mistake. Prepare well.

We have been on hundreds of backpack trips throughout BC and believe us when we tell you lives have been saved because of our groups preparedness. Lack of preparedness for the unexpected is when trouble rears its ugly head. Hiking and backpacking the outdoors in British Columbia is enjoyable when prepared no matter what nature throws at you!

Thank you for planning your hike with us on our BCeh.com Travel Planning Network!

Be well and enjoy,

The EH Team.