Western Canada
All of these items are taken from this book: The Great Western Canada Bucket List by Robin Esrock. I love this book and the series covers so many things about Canada. Now this will be both a review of the book as well as making a list of the things that you should see in both British Columbia and Alberta. If you click on the photo you will be take to the Amazon page for this book.
Now before I begin I purchased this book myself and personally decided to review it.
Review
While I really enjoyed this book and it does a good job of highlighting many things I found that it was lacking in activities in Northern BC as well as Northern Alberta. Most of the items in BC are in either the Okanagan or The Lower Mainland or the Island. Now while yes these are all great activities there are also many things for tourist to do in Northern BC and I will be adding my favorites to this list. The same goes for Northern Alberta I found it lacking on the more Northern activities and I will try to add some of mine to this list.
Now that the not so good stuff is out of the way, I will say that I enjoyed this book immensely. I was able to see things that I never knew were available for people to do. The book does not include prices but I find that prices change like crazy so that is perfect.
Things to see/do in British Columbia
1) Sail in Haida Gwaii:
3) Dive a Sunken Battleship- HMCS Saskatchewan; do your research and find a reputable company to dive with. There are many artificial reefs to dive in BC.
4) Surf in Tofino
5) Spirit Bear: Take a Tour to get a chance to see the illusive spirit bear.
6) Cold Sauna: Vernon
7) Old Growth Forests
a) Ancient Forest: Prince George BC
b) Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park: Cowichan Valley
c) Clayoquot Sound- Tofino
d) Great Bear Rainforest: Kitimat- Stikine Area
8) Downhill biking in Burns Lake
9) Heli-Skiing
10) Butchart Gardens- Victoria
11) Whistler
13) Stroll the Sea Wall- Vancouver
14) Capilano Suspension Bridge
16) CHM Summer Adventures: Mount Nimbus Summit
You are also allowed to just float on your own tube you don't have to actually rent them.
18) Grouse Grind
All of the above are in the book however there are a few that I would like to add.
19) Revelstoke: The Pipe Mountain Coaster
There are many more things that you can do but these two are the two that I knew I wanted to add.
Things to see/do in Alberta
2) Banff National Park: UNESCO World Heritage Site
3) Hunt for Dinosaurs: Drumheller
4) Hike Skyline Trail: Jasper National Park
6) Ice-fields Parkway & Glacier Skywalk:
7) Moraine Lake
10) Skoki Lodge
11) Maligne Canyon
13) Eat a Prairie Oyster: This is also called a Rocky Mountain Oyster, it is a bull testicle.
Top 10 Hikes in Western Canada
1) West Coast Trail, BC
2) Skyline Trail, AB
3) Heiko's Trail, BC
4) Crypt Lake, AB
5) Juan de Fuca Trail, BC
6) Tonquin Valley Trail, AB
7) Stawamus Chief, BC
8) Larch Valley-Sentinel Pass, AB
9) Chilkoot Trail, BC
10) Northover Ridge, AB
British Columbia's Top Dives
B.C.'s Ocean Quest Diving Centre owner's Greg & Deirdre McCracken list their top ten.
1) Browning Wall- Port Hardy
2) Skookumchuck Rapids- Egmont
3) Steep Island- Campbell River
4) Rentate Reef- Barkley Sound
5) Dodd Narrows- Nanaimo
6) Race Rocks- Victoria
7) HMCS Saskatchewan- Nanaimo
8) Wreck of the Capilano- Comox
9) Whytecliff Park- Vancouver
10) Ogden Point- Victoria
Top 10 places to see flowers in Western Canada
1) Butchart Gardens- Victoria BC
2) Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival- BC
3) Tulips of the Valley, Seabird Island, BC
4) Waterton Wild Flower Festival, AB
5) Manning Provincial Park Wildflowers, BC
6) Bradner Daffodil Festival, BC
7) Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver BC
8) Prairie Gardens, Edmonton AB 9) Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden, Lethbridge AB
10) Dr.Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Vancouver BC
Top 10 Ski Resorts in Western Canada
by Scott Birke, editor of Snowboard Magazine Canada
1) Whistler Blackcomb, BC
2) Red Mountain, BC
3) Whitewater, BC
4) Fernie, BC
5) Lake Louise, AB
6) Sun Peaks, BC
7) Kicking Horse, BC
8) Revelstoke Mountain Resort, BC
9) Sunshine Village, Banff, BC/AB
10) Big White, Kelowna, BC
Top 10 Hot Springs in Western Canada
1) Liard Hot Springs, BC
2) Harrison Hot Springs, BC
3) Miette Hot Spring, AB
4) Ainsworth Hot Springs, BC
5) Radium Hot Springs, BC
6) Banff Upper Hot Springs, AB
7) Hot Springs Cove, BC 8) Temple Garden Mineral Spa, SK- while not in BC or AB in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
9) Nakusp Hot Springs, BC
10) Halcyon Hot Springs, BC
So that covers Western Canada the next post will cover the Canadian Prairies. Don't forget to subscribe.
See you next time :)