Nature & Wildlife in the Okanagan
54 outdoor destinations for nature & wildlife across the Okanagan Valley.
Nature conservancies, creek corridors, desert habitat and the places to watch kokanee, birds and bighorn sheep.
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Allan Brooks Nature Centre
The Allan Brooks Nature Centre sits on a grassland knoll five minutes south of downtown Vernon with a view you cannot get anywhere else in the valley: Okanagan, Kalamalka and Swan lakes all at once from a single hilltop. Named for the celebrated Okanagan bird artist, the non-profit centre has been introducing visitors to the North Okanagan's ecosystems since 1996, and it is built for hands-on discovery. Inside are interactive displays of local plants and animals, live snakes, turtles and spiders, an observation bee hive and fur-and-feather touch tables; outside, walking paths loop through the native grassland past bluebird nest boxes, the resident marmots of "Marmot City", an analemmatic sundial and a pond where kids can net-dip for aquatic life. Guided tours can be booked for groups, and the centre runs summer camps, nature talks and workshops through the season, along with the ticketed Raptors flight demonstrations each June that bring hawks, owls, eagles and vultures to the Grassland Theatre. The centre is open Tuesday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., from April through October, admission is by donation, and there is free parking on site. It is also the local authority on birding routes through the Commonage grasslands to the south, so ask the staff before you go exploring.
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BX Creek Trail & BX Falls
The BX Creek Trail follows BX Creek from the mountains above Vernon down to the valley bottom, and its centrepiece is BX Falls. The falls section has several bridge crossings and steep stairs but is suitable for families — a short walk from the Tillicum Road parking lot, or a 6 km round trip for a longer outing. Above it, the Upper BX Creek network (known locally as Spanky's) runs 4.9 km from Sovereign Lake Road to Forsberg Road and is a physically challenging experience for advanced mountain bikers, hikers and trail runners. Dogs are permitted on leash. Park at the Tillicum Road lot (7025 Tillicum Road), the Star Road lot (6100 Star Road), the Deleenheer Road access, or the upper trailhead off Silver Star Road with additional parking on Forsberg Road. The falls trail runs 3.05 km one way with six bridges and a steep stairway at the falls — Tourism Vernon rates it Difficult, and spring runoff can make it unsafe, so pick a dry spell. Two gentler options round it out: the Deleenheer Road access gives a more accessible route into the black cottonwood forest for people with limited mobility, and the 1.5 km BX Creek Delta Trail follows the creek toward Swan Lake on crushed stone, boardwalks and bridges between 20th Street and Deleenheer Road.
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BX Creek Wetland Boardwalk & Vernon Heronry
Every March the great blue herons come back to Vernon. For close to forty years a colony has nested high in a stand of cottonwoods on the north side of the city, between 20th and 24th streets off 48th Avenue, and the heronry is now federally protected — you cannot enter it, but you do not need to: the surrounding sidewalks give clear views of the huge stick nests, the birds returning to rebuild in March and, later in spring and early summer, the young standing in the nests. The City's BX Creek Wetland Boardwalk Trail is the way to make a morning of it. From the trailhead and parking at Heron Glen Park on 53rd Avenue, the 1.4-kilometre (one-way) route follows crushed stone and long sections of boardwalk around wetland ponds and over several creek crossings, with interpretive signs, benches and a purpose-built lookout for watching the herons, on a surface gentle enough for all ages and abilities. Other access points are on Deleenheer Road (with parking) and at Pleasant Valley Road near Rimer Road. It is a stop on the BC Bird Trail, it is free, and it is open year-round — but this is a nesting area, so dogs and horses are not allowed on the trail, and posted signs around the heronry must be respected. It is a different trail from the BX Falls section up Tillicum Road.
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Bear Creek Provincial Park
Bear Creek gives you 400 metres of coarse-sand beach on the west side of Okanagan Lake, across the water from Kelowna, with a buoyed swim area and the kind of facilities that make a long day easy: a change house, accessible flush toilets, a concession and a dozen shaded picnic tables. An 80-vehicle lot handles the summer traffic. Dogs are not allowed on the beach and there are no lifeguards. The campground operates from March 20 to October 12, 2026. Behind the beach is one of the Okanagan's best-loved provincial campgrounds: 143 sites, 55 of them with electrical hook-ups, with hot showers, flush toilets, well water, a sani-station and fire rings, and reservations required through BC Parks in the peak season (first-come outside it). The one-hour Bear Creek Canyon Trail loops above the creek to viewpoints over the canyon and the lake to Knox Mountain, and the cottonwood delta is alive with swallows, hawks and, after dark, owls and coyotes.
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Chichester Wetland Park
Chichester Wetland Park is Rutland's neighbourhood wetland, a small City of Kelowna natural park of ponds and tall trees off Fitzpatrick Road where a surprising amount of wildlife packs into a short trail. Nearly 180 species of birds have been recorded here: marsh breeders such as sora, Virginia rail, marsh wren and blackbirds in the cattails, migrating warblers and western tanagers passing through in spring and fall, and a resident flock of mallards that winters on the open water. Painted turtles haul out on the logs on sunny days, and the easy loop is short enough for a lunch-hour visit or a first birding outing with children. It is a stop on the BC Bird Trail, free and open year-round, with street parking at the Chichester Court and Sumac Road West entrances. Dogs are welcome on leash — this is the one Kelowna wetland park on the trail that allows them — so keep them close around the water.
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Cools Pond Park
Cools Pond is the North Okanagan's easiest birding stop: a small rural wetland on L&A Road just north of Vernon, with a short, flat pathway running the length of the pond behind the fence and a covered wooden observation platform raised above the water. The Regional District looks after it as a nature area rather than a playground, and the birds have noticed — more than 120 species have been recorded here through the year, from spring waterfowl and shorebirds to raptors working the fields, woodpeckers in the cottonwoods and the songbirds that fill the reeds in June, with painted turtles hauled out on the logs on warm days. It is an all-season destination on the BC Bird Trail's Vernon route, a ten-minute walk end to end that rewards standing still with binoculars far more than hurrying. Park along L&A or Rimer roads at the corner, bring a scope if you have one, and note the one firm rule: no dogs (and no horses) in the pond area.
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Denison Lake Trail
Denison Lake Trail leads into Denison-Bonneau Provincial Park, a pocket of pristine subalpine lakes and old-growth forest in the Okanagan Highlands east of Lumby. Tourism Vernon rates the full 9.8 km route Moderate: walk about 2.5 km up an old spur road, then a lollipop loop through shaded forest, over a bridge on Creighton Creek and across a swampy stretch on old logs to the lake, where there are picnic spots, an outlet waterfall and a rock pile with views; an alternate, more open route returns to the road. BC Parks describes the in-park segment as a 2 km hiking trail that begins outside the park boundary off the Bonneau Lake Forest Service Road. From Highway 6 turn right on Creighton Valley Road, then right on Bonneau Lake FSR; after 6 km the trailhead is an old spur road on the right, with a larger parking area 400 metres further on. There is no park signage until you are inside, and poles help on the log crossings. Pets must be on a leash at all times.
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Fintry Provincial Park
Fintry is the big west-shore day out: a natural sand beach with warm water along almost two kilometres of Okanagan Lake waterfront, on Fintry Delta Road off Westside Road about 34 km north of Kelowna and 49 km south of Vernon. Swim off the beach, launch a canoe or kayak, fish, or stay over in the campground. Behind the beach the former Fintry Estate gives this park something no other Okanagan beach has: the Manor House with guided tours of the house and its story, the octagonal barn and other farm buildings, and the Shorts Creek canyon trail past waterfalls and deep pools, with viewing platforms for birds, small mammals, deer and bighorn sheep. There are no lifeguards. Pets must be on leash at all times and are not allowed in the beach areas, except at the designated pet beach. Boaters can reach it too, 6 km across the lake from Ellison Park or Kopje Regional Park. The campground is the largest on the west shore — 190 sites (186 reservable), 30 with power, plus three group camping pods for 40 to 60 people — with three shower buildings, a paved boat launch and dock and a sani-station; blue-listed bighorn sheep and Townsend's big-eared bats share the park with a nesting pair of bald eagles.
🐾 Dog Friendly
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Glen Canyon Regional Park
Glen Canyon runs for 95 hectares along Powers Creek in West Kelowna, and its trails offer everything from easy creek-side walks to challenging stairs and terrain, with views of the canyon's unusual geology and a 24-metre waterfall. Washrooms are on site, there is a viewpoint, and dogs are welcome on leash. The parking lot is off Gellatly Road South; the Brown Road vehicle entrance is closed from November 1 to April 1 when maintenance is reduced. Hours shift with the seasons, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m. The park is maintained with the help of the Gellatly Bay Trails and Parks Society. The Regional District's designated routes are the 2.3 km Glen Canyon Greenway, rated moderate, the easy 800-metre Doe Trail and the short Buck Trail, with informal paths branching through the canyon; Visit Westside splits the park into a north half of over 4 km and a south half of 2.2 km one way with stairs. The upper canyon is currently under a partial hazard closure, so respect the barriers.
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Goats Peak Regional Park
Goats Peak rises steeply from the shore of Okanagan Lake in West Kelowna, and the payoff for the climb is a lookout with stunning lake and valley views beside towering rock bluffs. A rocky trail crosses protected grassland before a challenging climb through open woodland to the peak; the waterfront sections of this 63-hectare park are conservation areas for shore-spawning kokanee. A washroom is on site and dogs are welcome on leash. Park in the lot off Seclusion Bay Road, near the exits for Highway 97 and the Okanagan Connector, or use the newer access with limited street parking on Whitworth Road. Hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m., with reduced maintenance from November 1 to April 1. Two designated trails cover the park: the 1.3 km Big Sagebrush Trail through the grassland, rated moderate, and the 1.4 km Mountain Goat Trail up to the peak, rated difficult by the Regional District.
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Goose Lake Range Park
Goose Lake Range Park is a new 46-hectare natural space on the plateau between Swan Lake and Okanagan Lake north of Vernon, with over 3 km of non-motorized, multi-use gravel trails designed for accessibility: gentle slopes through native grassland and wetland, suited to walking, cycling and quiet nature watching. Dogs are welcome on the trail but must remain on a leash. From Vernon follow Highway 97 north, turn left on Mendenhall Road, continue as it becomes Stepping Stones Road, bear right at the park signage and follow the access road about 1 km to the parking lot.
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Hardy Falls Regional Park
Hardy Falls is the easy waterfall walk at the south end of Peachland: the Owl Trail, just 430 metres each way, flat and shaded, crosses Deep Creek on a series of bridges and ends at a viewing platform below the falls. The 6-hectare park is ideal for wildlife watching, especially in the fall when the kokanee salmon return to spawn in the creek. The trail and washrooms are accessible, and dogs are welcome on leash. The parking lot is off Hardy Street. Park hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m., with reduced maintenance of the parking area and facilities from November to March.
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International Hike and Bike Trail
The International Hike and Bike Trail runs 18.4 km along the Okanagan River channel between the north end of Osoyoos Lake and Oliver, a wide, relatively flat dyke path past vineyards, farms and wineries that is great for all ages on foot or by bicycle; nearly 10 km of it is paved, according to Oliver Tourism. The Osoyoos end is reached at the wooden bridge on Road 22, 8 km north of town, and in Oliver the trail links to the town's parks, including Oliver Community Park at 6359 Park Drive. The Town of Oliver allows dogs off leash on its section of the trail south of Fairview Road, on the west side of the river, from dawn to 9 a.m. year-round; at other times and elsewhere leash rules apply, and the Regional District portion publishes no rule.
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Johns Family Nature Conservancy Regional Park
Johns Family Nature Conservancy is more than 400 hectares of parkland in south Kelowna with panoramic views of the Okanagan Valley and trails that lead to The Crags, a well-known climbing spot. It is also Canada's third Nocturnal Preserve, a Royal Astronomical Society of Canada designation that keeps artificial light to a minimum, so the sky here is as much of a draw as the view. The main parking lot is off Chute Lake Road just outside the city boundary, less than 1 km along the gravel. Hikers can also start from Lakeshore Road: the Lebanon Creek Greenway is a 2.3 km climb with 450 metres of elevation gain up to the top of the Crags, with shorter trails to make a loop or reach the Kettle Valley neighbourhood; its Lakeshore Road vehicle entrance is closed from November 1 to April 1. A washroom is on site, dogs are welcome on leash, and hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m., with reduced maintenance from November 1 to April 1.
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KLO Creek Regional Park
KLO Creek Regional Park is a 1.8 km creek-side trail in southeast Kelowna, a short stroll on natural terrain that the Regional District recommends for its cool shade in summer and for the stunning geological formations that also make it a popular spot for climbers. It is beautiful in every season. Dogs are welcome on leash. The parking lot is off McCulloch Road at the switchback over KLO Creek. Park hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m.
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Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park – Cosens Bay
Cosens Bay is the earned beach of Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park: boat in, or bike or hike a 6 km trail to reach it, and that is exactly why people go. Once there, a buoyed swim area waits in the bay and there is plenty of space to stretch out, with a pet beach at the eastern end for your four-legged family member. It is a popular destination for boaters. There are no lifeguards, so bring what you need and plan the trip back. The walk in is the reason naturalists love this park: more than 14 km of trails cross a rare intact grassland where 432 kinds of plants have been recorded, canyon wrens and white-throated swifts nest in the cliffs, and the Rattlesnake Point trail ends at a viewing platform with eight benches turned toward the spectacular view over the lake. Pit toilets only, maintained April to late October.
♥ Local Favourite 🐾 Dog Friendly
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Kangaroo Creek Farm
Kangaroo Creek Farm is the Okanagan's one genuinely surprising animal encounter: a working farm on Old Vernon Road, a few minutes north of Kelowna's airport, where red kangaroos and wallabies lounge in open paddocks you can walk straight into. Feeding the animals and holding a joey are included in the admission — there is no extra charge — and the cast runs well beyond the kangaroos, with common wallaroos, Bennett's, dama and albino wallabies, emus, peacocks, goats, parrots, potbellied pigs and a family of capybaras. The 2026 season runs from June 27 to October 12: daily 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through September 7, daily 10 to 3 for the rest of September, and Saturdays, Sundays and Thanksgiving Monday in October, with last entry at 2:45 p.m. High-season admission (to September 7) is $30 for adults and youth 16 to 64, $15 for children 5 to 15 and $15 for seniors, with children four and under free; from September 8 the rates drop to $20, $10 and $10. Debit, cash, Visa and MasterCard are accepted, and wheelchair users and Access 2 cardholders enter free, though be aware the paths are gravel, dirt and grass. Dogs are not allowed in the animal enclosures (leashed dogs may wait in the picnic area), commercial groups and schools book by email, and the farm asks drivers to avoid the left turn onto Highway 97 at the uncontrolled intersection when leaving.
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Kasugai Garden
Tucked behind a wall off Water Street, Kasugai Garden is downtown Kelowna's secret calm: stone lanterns, sculpted pines, a waterfall and a koi pond celebrating the city's friendship with Kasugai, Japan. Free, peaceful and just steps from the lake. Open spring to late October.
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Kingfisher Interpretive Centre
Twenty-five kilometres east of Enderby on the road to Mabel Lake, the Kingfisher Interpretive Centre is a volunteer-run salmon hatchery on the banks of the Shuswap River that has been raising Chinook salmon for close to four decades — and it welcomes visitors. In summer the hatchery opens for tours, with displays to browse and interpreters on hand to answer questions, on Sundays, Mondays and Thursday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; the riverside grounds and trails are open from dawn to dusk year-round, and outhouses in the upper parking lot stay open to the public. Timing matters here: from mid-April to the end of the school year, weekday mornings belong to school groups releasing salmon fry, so the trails open to everyone after 1:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday, and through September and October the buildings are closed for scientific research while the trails remain open in daylight hours. The centre's public events are the real treat — a free Learn to Fish day for children each July, and the annual Salmon Egg Take on the Thanksgiving weekend, when Chinook are netted on the river and their eggs fertilized back at the incubator in a free, hands-on family event you are welcome to join or simply watch. No admission fee is published for a visit; the society runs on volunteers and donations, and it won the Canadian Museum of Nature's 2021 Nature Inspiration Award for community action. Keep pets under control and pack out what you bring in.
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Knox Mountain Park
Knox Mountain is Kelowna's largest natural area park, 385 hectares rising roughly 300 metres above Okanagan Lake just north of downtown, and its lookouts are the classic view of the city. The park moves from lakeshore to mountain top through riparian, wetland, ponderosa pine bunchgrass and Douglas-fir ecosystems that the City describes as fragile and easily eroded, so stay on the trails. Walking, running, hiking, road and mountain biking, birding and winter recreation are all part of life here. The park is open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.; vehicles may drive Knox Mountain Drive to the first lookout from noon to 8 p.m. in the frost-free season, and the road closes in winter, for events and in extreme wildfire risk. Motorized vehicles are not permitted elsewhere in the park. Additional parking is at the western base off Poplar Point Drive. Signature routes include the Apex Trail to the upper lookout — about 5 km round trip on dirt trails with stairs, a moderate 45 minutes to an hour and a half — the 3 km lakeshore walk to Paul's Tomb and Kathleen Lake, the 3.2 km road climb from the base to the top, and the Lochview Trail that connects the park's north side. Dogs must be on leash except in the designated off-leash dog park at 450 Knox Mountain Drive, and smoking, vaping and cannabis are banned in all City parks.
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Lumby Salmon Trail
The Lumby Salmon Trail is the village's easy nature walk: three interconnected trails along Bessette and Duteau creeks, the easternmost spawning grounds for Coho and Chinook salmon in the Okanagan, linked through the downtown streets so that walks can run from as short as 1 km to as long as 8 km. The terrain is flat and accessible to wheelchairs, prams and bicycles, with interpretive signs and touch-and-play activities for young children along the way; the Village runs guided walks from June to August. Your leashed pet is welcome and doggie bags are provided. The Lumby Lions campground sits at the head of the trail, and the Village has not published a separate trailhead address.
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Maude-Roxby Wetland (Bird Sanctuary)
Tucked into the Okanagan Lake shoreline at the end of Francis Avenue in the Pandosy neighbourhood, the Maude-Roxby Wetland is a bird sanctuary you can walk into from a residential street. A raised boardwalk with benches and small piers threads through willow groves and cattail marsh to a viewing platform that juts out over the lake, so you can watch the water and the reeds at the same time with almost no disturbance to what lives there. Winter brings rafts of gulls and waterfowl, with tundra and trumpeter swans possible; spring fills the willows with warblers, vireos and flycatchers; herons, ducks and red-winged blackbirds are here most of the year; and because the site has turned up so many wandering rarities over the years, the Central Okanagan Naturalists' Club keeps a close eye on it. It is a stop on the BC Bird Trail and one of Kelowna's best-known birding spots, yet it stays quiet. The boardwalk is wheelchair-friendly and the park is free and open year-round. This is a nature preserve first: no dogs are allowed; parking is on the street. It is about 4 km south of City Park along Abbott Street, an easy bike ride on the lakeside route.
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Middleton Mountain (Farnsworth Nature Reserve)
Middleton Mountain is the grassy summit between Vernon and Coldstream, and the Farnsworth Nature Reserve at its top protects native grassland where three loop trails — the Bluebird, North, Middle and South Loop trails — give 360-degree views of Kalamalka Lake, the Coldstream Valley, the Monashee Mountains, Swan Lake and the City of Vernon. Tourism Vernon lists the Middleton Mountain Loop at 2.66 km and rates it Difficult, because steep stairs climb to the summit from the trailhead sign on Mt Ida Drive opposite the Emerald Views housing complex; there is also access from Middleton Mountain Park. Benches and interpretive signs describe the geology, flora and fauna, wildflowers bloom from early spring to mid-June, and deer, marmots, bluebirds, meadowlarks, quail, eagles and hawks live here. Dogs must be on leash — to avoid the cactus as much as to protect the grassland wildlife.
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Mill Creek Regional Park
Mill Creek Regional Park is a cool, shaded surprise east of Kelowna's airport: a flat, easy trail under cedars that follows Mill Creek to a set of cascading waterfalls — the Waterfall Trail is only about 800 metres one way, with a short boardwalk section, so it suits small children and anyone after a quick, cool escape. At 13.5 hectares it is small, but the falls, the shade on a hot afternoon and the creek's role as an important wildlife corridor make it worth the short drive into the Ellison area. Washrooms are on site and dogs are welcome on leash. There is a parking area on the west side of Spencer Road and street parking on the east side. Park hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m., with reduced maintenance from November to March.
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Mission Creek Greenway Regional Park
The Mission Creek Greenway is Kelowna's great linear park: 16.5 km of multi-use trail following Mission Creek from Okanagan Lake into the hills, linking parks, interpretive viewing areas, rest spots and picnic areas along the way. From the lake the trail is flat and wide — an easy walk or ride — and the difficulty builds through Scenic Canyon, where elevation and stairs take over. Nine main access points have parking, from Lakeshore Road and Truswell Road up to the Field Road lot in Scenic Canyon. Washrooms are on the route, an easy portion of the trail and the washrooms are accessible, and dogs are welcome on leash. It is a shared trail, so keep right, pass on the left, and cyclists must stay under the 15 km/h limit and ring a bell before passing. The Regional District maps the Greenway in sections — 7.5 km from Lakeshore Road to Creekside, 2.3 km from Gerstmar to Hollywood, 7.1 km from Hollywood Road up to Hydraulic Creek, plus a 1.3 km south spur from Casorso Road to Gordon Drive — which is why the mapped total comes to 18.7 km against the 16.5 km headline figure. In 2026 the Gerstmar Bridge project is closing short stretches between Ziprick and Gerstmar roads at times, so follow the detour signs. Hours shift with the seasons (6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m.), and some access points get reduced maintenance from November to March.
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Mission Creek Regional Park
Mission Creek Regional Park is 92 hectares of winding trails, creek and cottonwoods in the heart of Kelowna, and a park that works in every season. It is home to the Robert Hobson Environmental Education Centre for the Okanagan (the EECO, open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and the kokanee spawning channel, so a walk here doubles as a nature lesson. The named trails are gentle — the 3.5 km Soopollalie Trail, the 1.3 km Sutherland Hills Trail, the 1 km Pine Loop and the short Turtle Pond and Kokanee trails, about 7 km of easy walking in all — and the easy trails, washrooms, picnic shelter and playground are all accessible, and dogs are welcome on leash. Portions of the trails are closed while the Gerstmar Bridge trail improvements are built (announced August 2026, with no reopening date yet), so follow the closure signs and detours. The main parking lot is at 2363 Springfield Road with entrances at Durnin and Leckie roads, there is a second lot at the end of Ziprick Road, and three trailheads with street parking along Hall Road. Park hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m.
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Mount Kobau
Mount Kobau rises west of Osoyoos inside the South Okanagan Grasslands Protected Area, and its summit road is the one road in the protected area open to motor vehicles. From the top, the short Lookout Trail leads to the site of the former fire lookout, where BC Parks describes a panorama of the Okanagan Valley, Osoyoos Lake and the Similkameen Valley; the 3 km Chopaka Lookout Trail runs through forest and grassland to views over the Similkameen. The protected area is managed for hiking, wildlife viewing, cycling and horseback riding through dry grasslands and open forests that BC Parks describes as one of the four most endangered ecosystems in Canada. The summit road is gravel and maintained infrequently, and parking at the trailheads is limited. Camping and campfires are not permitted, there is no water, mine adits are closed, and dogs must be leashed. The summit is also considered one of the best places in Canada for astronomy and hosts an annual star party.
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Munson Pond Park
Munson Pond is Kelowna's birding jewel hidden in plain sight: a 9.8-hectare urban wetland near the corner of Benvoulin and KLO roads that protects one of British Columbia's rarest ecosystems, a cottonwood–water birch forest, around a 3.8-hectare pond. A one-kilometre gravel loop circles the water past boardwalks, two viewing platforms and interpretive signs, and the path is accessible, so it works as well for a quiet family walk as for a serious morning with binoculars. More than 225 species have been recorded here, from migrating geese in spring and fall to warblers, waterfowl and the occasional rarity that keeps the local birders coming back, and it is a signed stop on the BC Bird Trail. To protect that wildlife, dogs are not permitted anywhere in the park — bylaw officers visit regularly and do ticket — and it is a place for slow, quiet looking rather than picnics or play. Turn west onto Munson Road off Benvoulin to find the small paved parking lot.
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Naramata Creek Park Waterfall Trail
Naramata Creek Park is the village's waterfall walk: a 2.5 km round trip on an unpaved, packed trail up the forested creek to a series of falls, easy to moderate, with the creek crossed two or three times along the way, which makes it a favourite of families and dog walkers. It is a Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen park, and its parks regulations require dogs to be on leash. The trail starts from the Naramata Creek Park parking lot. It is best in summer — too icy in winter, and the water runs too high to cross safely in spring.
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Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre
Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre, owned and run by the Osoyoos Indian Band, is where the South Okanagan's desert stops being scenery and becomes a living place. The strikingly modern, sustainably built centre opens onto more than 1.5 km of walking trails through wild sage and antelope brush on a 50-acre site above Osoyoos Lake, with interpreters leading guided walks and the Chief's Lookout giving the long view down the valley — bring water, a hat and good shoes. Inside, two multi-sensory theatres bring the legends of Sen'klip the Coyote to life, the Critter Corner introduces a live western rattlesnake and a Great Basin gopher snake alongside the work of the Nk'mip Rattlesnake Research Project, and the Living Lands outdoor exhibit, sculpture gallery and reconstructed village tell the story of the Syilx people and their land. Watch for Calliope hummingbirds, western meadowlarks, California quail and soaring golden eagles and ospreys on the trails; the centre is a stop on the BC Bird Trail. It is open seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., year-round, with occasional private-event closures posted on the website. Admission is $19 for adults, $17 for seniors and students, $14 for children under 18 and $43 for a family of two adults and their children. The site is fully accessible — a ramp from the parking lot, gravel pathways and golf-cart tours on request for anyone who needs help with the upper trail — and pets are not permitted on the trails. Allow an hour and a half to two hours, and finish in the gift shop, which stocks Indigenous-made art.
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Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park
Okanagan Mountain is 11,321 hectares of rugged wilderness on the east shore of Okanagan Lake, opposite Peachland, with no public roads inside it — which is exactly its appeal. From the north parking lot, the Boulder Loop runs 5 km (about 3 hours, easy) and the Old C.N. Trail 3 km; the Rim Trail, the Pinnacles and the viewpoint near the south lot deliver the big views, and the canyons are good country for spotting sheep, goats and elk. The south lot is reached through Naramata on Chute Lake Road, 6 km of gravel followed by 1.5 km of very rough road. Paddlers can string together day trips or multi-day trips along the undeveloped shoreline, camping at the marine campsites and swimming in the bays. Mountain biking is allowed on the signed trails (e-bikes on designated trails), horses have their own routes, and the park has pit toilets only. Dogs must stay on leash.
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Osoyoos Desert Centre
The Osoyoos Desert Centre is a 67-acre nature interpretive facility in Canada's pocket desert, and the way to see this rare ecosystem without trampling it: a 1.5 km boardwalk carries you through the desert habitat on guided or self-guided tours, with interpretive exhibits and native plant gardens at the centre. It is a seasonal operation with hours that change through the year — in fall it opens Wednesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with last admission to the boardwalk at 1 p.m. — and admission is charged, so check the current schedule before you drive out. The centre is at 14580 146th Avenue.
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Penticton Ikeda Japanese Garden
A quiet Japanese garden on Penticton's Okanagan Lake waterfront, with koi-filled ponds, graceful bridges and plantings that burst into bloom each April and May. It's a lovely pause on a lakeside stroll near the S.S. Sicamous.
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Predator Ridge Trails
Predator Ridge has built one of the North Okanagan’s signature riding networks on the Commonage between Vernon and Kelowna: 13.5 km of dedicated bike trails plus a connector into Ellison Provincial Park, all open to the public and operated seasonally. Tourism Vernon’s advice is to take the climb for the Okanagan Lake views and then link Mantle, Granite, Rock Garden Playground and The Arches for one long rocky, granite-slab descent; the North Okanagan Cycling Society credits the resort with building trails such as Granite, Mantle and the Ellison Connector for the wider Vernon riding community. The resort’s Bike Hub at 1-799 Predator Ridge Drive is the base, and several parking areas serve the trailheads; parking costs are not published, and no dog or e-bike rules are published for the trails.
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Robert Lake Regional Park
Robert Lake is not a park you walk through — it is a park you look at, and for birders that is exactly the point. This shallow alkaline lake in the Glenmore Valley north of Kelowna is a rare prairie-style salt flat, and its salty water draws more than 140 species, including breeding American avocets, black-necked stilts and Wilson's phalaropes that you will not find on the big lakes, along with green-winged teal, northern pintail and ruddy ducks, and a parade of shorebirds during the August migration. To protect the nesting habitat the Regional District has built no trails and allows no access to the shoreline; instead there is a small parking area at the end of Curtis Road with an information kiosk and a viewing spot, so bring a spotting scope or good binoculars and settle in. The lot is bordered by private land on both sides, so stay within the park area and approach quietly. Robert Lake is a stop on the BC Bird Trail, it is free, and it is open year-round on the regional parks' seasonal hours (6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in winter, later in summer). Spring and late summer are the seasons to come.
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Rose Valley Regional Park
Rose Valley Regional Park is 250 ha of natural parkland in the Rose Valley neighbourhood of West Kelowna, with a network of multi-use trails, spectacular views over the valley, a conservation area and a natural pond where birds and other wildlife can be spotted. The park was badly burned in the 2023 McDougall Creek wildfire and is recovering through a phased, large-scale restoration effort, including volunteer tree planting. As of May 2026 the Regional District reports it partially re-opened with some areas still closed to visitors — observe the barricades and signage and check the RDCO wildfire-recovery page before you go. Washrooms are provided and dogs are welcome on leash. Visit Westside describes the main circuit as about 6 km round trip with roughly 80 metres of elevation gain, moderate to difficult, taking two to four hours.
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Rotary Marsh Park
Rotary Marsh is downtown Kelowna's wild corner: a restored wetland at the north end of Waterfront Park, beside the lakeside promenade and ringed by high-rises, where gravel paths and wooden boardwalks wind between cattails and marshy ponds. Opened in 1995 as a Rotary conservation project, it now supports around a hundred bird species, dozens of native plants and five kinds of mammal, and it is the easiest place in the city to see wildlife that is genuinely at risk in British Columbia — painted turtles basking on logs, great blue herons stalking the shallows, and a pair of ospreys that nest each summer on the platform out in the marsh. In winter, loons, grebes, hooded mergansers and diving ducks gather off the point, and a jetty lets you scan the open lake. It is a stop on the BC Bird Trail and a five-minute walk from the downtown cafés, so it slots easily into a waterfront stroll. The park is free and open year-round, and, as a wildlife refuge, no dogs are allowed.
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Scenic Canyon Regional Park
Scenic Canyon is where the Mission Creek Greenway turns wild: a 229-hectare natural area in southeast Kelowna where the trails follow Mission Creek and KLO Creek beneath Layer Cake Mountain and Pinnacle Rock, two of the valley's most striking geological features. The Greenway runs right through the park — its Hollywood Road to Hydraulic Creek section is 7.1 km and rated moderate, with stairs and bridges — so it suits walkers who want more than a flat stroll, while the park's own short trails add the 1.2 km Saskatoon Trail, the 230-metre Rock Ovens Trail past the old stone ovens and the steep 240-metre Pinnacle Trail, rated difficult. The Black Bear Trail is currently closed and parts of the park are closed for hazards; obey the signs. Washrooms, picnic tables and viewpoints are in the park, and dogs are welcome on leash. Park at the end of Field Road or at the Hollywood Road South entrance; the Field Road and McCulloch Road vehicle entrances are closed from November to March, when maintenance is reduced. Hours shift with the seasons, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m.
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Shannon Lake Regional Park
A peaceful West Kelowna lakeside park with a floating dock, short shoreline trails and picnic tables. Each spring park interpreters run the popular "Go Fish" program that teaches kids to cast their first line.
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Skaha Bluffs Provincial Park
Skaha Bluffs is the South Okanagan's rock-climbing destination: a 554-hectare park of sun-warmed cliffs above the east side of Skaha Lake, reached from Lakeside Road up Smythe Road along Gillies Creek. Climbing is permitted only in the northern section of the park, and BC Parks warns that the trails used to reach the routes can be difficult, so this is a place for sure feet even if you never touch rope. The bluffs are essential habitat for bighorn sheep — keep your distance, they are territorial — and dogs must be leashed at all times to protect the fragile ecosystem. Mountain biking is confined to the designated routes in the Gillies Creek corridor. Pit toilets are at the parking lots, and the access-road gate opens from 7 a.m. to dusk; it is closed for the season from mid-November to mid-March.
♥ Local Favourite
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Spectrum Lake Trail (Monashee Provincial Park)
Spectrum Lake is the North Okanagan's gateway to true mountain wilderness: a 6 km trail into Monashee Provincial Park that BC Parks rates easy and times at about two hours one way, on a hard-packed, three-foot-wide tread with boardwalks and bridges over the wet ground, through Douglas fir, lodgepole pine, birch, cedar and hemlock to a moss-carpeted lakeshore with 16 tent platforms, shelters and food caches. Partway in, two viewing platforms hang over Spectrum Creek at Rainbow Falls, one looking down the whole drop and one close enough to feel the spray. Strong hikers keep going: the Little Peters Trail climbs 5 km of steep switchbacks and alder-choked avalanche chutes out of the basin (3 to 4 hours, rated difficult), the Big Peters Trail rolls on through subalpine spruce and fir to Big Peters Lake 13 km from the trailhead (about 800 metres of climbing in all), and beyond that lie Margie Lake, Fawn Lake and the 2,697-metre summit of Mount Fosthall, where caribou, wolverine and pikas share the meadows. Dogs are not permitted anywhere in the park, to protect the red-listed mountain caribou; mountain bikes are not permitted on the trail, horses are. Backcountry camping is first come, first served at $5 per person per night. Getting there is part of the commitment: Highway 6 east through Lumby to Cherryville, 46 km up Sugar Lake Road to the km-22 turnoff, then 16 km of Spectrum Creek Forest Service Road to the trailhead parking lot, with active logging traffic on both roads and a log-sorting area that can trouble low-clearance vehicles. The park is open year-round when the road allows, and subzero temperatures are common in the subalpine even in summer, so pack for weather.
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Spion Kop Recreation Reserve
Spion Kop is Lake Country's summit trail system: over 17 km of marked trails and connectors in a 350-hectare wilderness recreation reserve above Wood Lake, ranging from easy/moderate to most difficult and winding through cool forest and grassy slopes along old glacial ridges, bluffs and basalt cliffs. All trails ultimately lead to the Spion Kop summit and its 360-degree view of Wood, Ellison, Kalamalka and Okanagan lakes, the Oyama benchlands and isthmus, and Little White, Knox, Bear, Terrace and Silver Star mountains. The District's trail map lists the Summit Trail at 2.4 km, Lupine at 5.6 km, Tower at 5.2 km and Paintbush and Ridge Line at 1.5 km each, and notes heritage horse-logging trails and stretches of the historic Old Mission Road. Large raptors, mule deer, bears and coyotes live here. Marked trails are recommended for hiking; parking and access are at the trailheads, including one midway along Pelmewash Parkway. Some 420 acres on the southwest side are private property — no trespassing. Keep dogs on leash.
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Summerland Ornamental Gardens
The Summerland Ornamental Gardens have been growing on the bench above Trout Creek since 1916, when the Dominion Experimental Farm planted them to show Okanagan settlers what would thrive in a dry climate — and more than a century later that is still the point. Fifteen acres of heritage trees and lawns roll toward the canyon rim, but the heart of the modern garden is its xeriscape and native-plant beds, where the plants that belong in this valley are labelled with their Syilx Okanagan names alongside the Latin, so a walk here doubles as a field guide to the sagebrush country you have been driving through. Birds work the shrubs year-round, spring brings the big bloom, and the seasonal hours stretch from an 8 am opening to 8 pm on summer evenings (shorter in winter, weather permitting). Admission is by donation, with $5 a person suggested; dogs are welcome on leash and there are several places to park off Highway 97. The gardens are run by a volunteer society, the Friends of Summerland Ornamental Gardens ([email protected]), whose plant sales and tours are the best way to take a little of the Okanagan home.
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Swan Lake Nature Reserve Trail
The Swan Lake Nature Reserve is a gentle 1.8 km loop at the southwest end of Swan Lake, north of Vernon, preserving and restoring marshland in partnership with Ducks Unlimited. The flat trail is one of the area's best birding walks — blue herons, marsh birds, raptors, geese and ducks — and a three-storey wildlife observation tower on the shore adds 360-degree views and interpretive signage. Most of the reserve is left undeveloped for conservation. Dogs are not permitted. Drive north on Old Kamloops Road 2.3 km from 43rd Avenue and Alexis Park Drive, turn right at the Swan Lake Regional Park sign at Stawn's Honey, and follow the gravel road 0.7 km to the parking area at the trailhead.
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Thomas Hayes Ecological Reserve Trails
The Thomas Hayes Ecological Reserve is the rare ecological reserve with sanctioned walking trails: two easy loops through the wetlands and open country southwest of Armstrong near Otter Lake, the 4.3 km Coyote Loop and the 1.7 km White Tail Wander. It is a bird-watching walk more than a climb, and the Township of Spallumcheen lists it among the area's trails. The trailhead is on Hayes Road, about 7 km southwest of downtown Armstrong. Because this is an ecological reserve, stay on the marked trails and leave nothing behind. No dogs are allowed on the trails.
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Tplaqín / Enderby Cliffs Provincial Park
The Enderby Cliffs are the landmark of the northern Okanagan: at nearly 1,200 metres, the cliffs tower 850 metres above the valley floor and reward the climb with a sweeping view over both the Shuswap and the Okanagan Valley. The 2,299-hectare park sits 5 km northeast of Enderby — from Highway 97A turn east on Cliff Avenue, which becomes Mabel Lake Road, then left on Brash Allen Road to the trailhead. Stay on the designated trail: it crosses a community watershed and the soils are easily damaged. Dogs must be on leash. Small Reeves Lake inside the park is a marshy spot popular for trout fishing. No facilities are listed by BC Parks, so come self-sufficient. The Tplaqín Trail is 6.5 km one way, climbing from the 462-metre trailhead to the 1,150-metre summit — nearly 700 metres of gain — with viewpoints at the 2 km and 3 km marks and a bench partway up; BC Parks calls it strenuous, allows one and a half to two and a half hours each way, warns that falling rock is common, and does not permit bicycles. The upper trail follows the top of the cliffs, so stay on the trail and keep children within reach.
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Trepanier Creek Greenway Regional Park
A natural, forested greenway that follows the canyon of Trepanier Creek through Peachland. The designated greenway trail is 3.9 km and rated moderate, inside a corridor of about 5 km running from the Okanagan Connector (Highway 97C) down to Peachland Elementary School, with a waterfall along the way and the remnants of the dam from a small hydroelectric plant that ran on the creek from 1909 to 1947. Washrooms are provided and dogs are welcome on leash. During spring runoff the Regional District asks visitors to keep away from the creek banks, which can be slippery and where the water may rise unexpectedly; parking areas and facilities see reduced maintenance from November to March. The District of Peachland also lists an access point on Chidley Road.
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Vaseux Lake Provincial Park
Vaseux Lake is the Okanagan beach for people who want the lake without the engines: as a Migratory Bird Sanctuary it bans motorized boats, so the beach, which runs the length of the campground and continues along the shore, belongs to swimmers, canoes and kayaks, birds and anglers. A day-use area off the Canadian Wildlife Service parking lot has two picnic tables down a short path to the water, and there are 12 first-come campsites. Facilities are basic: four pit toilets, no flush, and a permanent boil-water advisory. Dogs must stay leashed and out of the beach areas, and there are no lifeguards. Open year-round with the gate closed off-season; accessibility information is available. The 12 sites are first-come, first-served year-round; in the off-season the gate is closed and you walk in from it, with a winter fee and no services.
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Vaseux Lake Wildlife Centre & Migratory Bird Sanctuary
Vaseux Lake is the Okanagan's one federal Migratory Bird Sanctuary, and the Wildlife Centre at its north end is the place to see why. Managed by the Canadian Wildlife Service as part of the Vaseux-Bighorn National Wildlife Area, the site is simple and superb: a small gravel parking lot off Highway 97 about 5 km south of Okanagan Falls, an information kiosk, and a boardwalk that runs out through the rushes to an enclosed two-storey wildlife viewing tower with the lake, the marsh and McIntyre Bluff spread out in front of you. More than 200 bird species have been recorded here — trumpeter swans and great blue herons, wood ducks, blue-winged teal and wigeon, Lazuli buntings in the thickets — and the cliffs and grasslands around the lake are home to California bighorn sheep, badgers, painted turtles, the pallid bat and the rare night snake, so bring binoculars and take your time. The boardwalk and viewing tower are open for day use year-round, admission is free, and the entry level of the tower is wheelchair accessible. Because this is a Migratory Bird Sanctuary, pets are not permitted on the site and motorized boats are banned on the lake, which is also why the water stays so quiet. The parking area sits inside the boundary of Vaseux Lake Provincial Park, whose campground and beach are a separate BC Parks destination along the east shore; the two make an easy pairing, but the sanctuary boardwalk is its own reason to stop.
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White Lake Grasslands Protected Area
White Lake is the South Okanagan at its most elemental: a broad, bone-dry basin of bunchgrass, sage and antelope-brush west of Okanagan Falls, ringed by open ponderosa pine and rock outcrops, with the white alkali lake glaring at its centre and the domes of the observatory on the ridge. BC Parks protects it first and foremost for what lives here — this is one of the province's richest pockets of rare grassland species, with badgers and bats, spadefoot toads and rattlesnakes, and a bird list that draws birders from across the country for long-billed curlews on the flats, white-headed woodpeckers in the pines and yellow-breasted chats in the thickets. It is not a developed park: there are no facilities, the few wilderness trails are unmarked and BC Parks asks for map-and-compass skills, and the sensible visit is the White Lake Trail from the small gravel pullout on Fairview–White Lake Road, on The Nature Trust land south of the lake, walked slowly with binoculars in spring or fall. Stay on existing trails, keep dogs leashed, carry water in the heat, and treat the area as the fragile place it is. (McIntyre Bluff lies within the protected area, but the former trail access through Covert Farms has been closed since 2020.)
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Woodhaven Nature Conservancy Regional Park
Woodhaven is a peaceful forested park in Kelowna's Lower Mission where a single trail system passes through four distinct natural ecosystems — a black cottonwood zone, Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine and western red cedar — in just under 30 hectares. It is home to endangered species and a historical irrigation flume, and it is one of the few regional parks where dogs are not allowed at all, which keeps it quiet for wildlife and for walkers. The trails themselves are short — about 1.4 km of interlinked loops (Main, Perimeter, Flume, Saskatoon and the Dry and Wet Interior trails) — so this is an unhurried hour rather than a workout, and one part of the property is closed to public access. Washrooms are on site. The parking lot is off Raymer Road. Hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m.; maintenance is reduced from November 1 to April 1, and the park can close without notice in extreme weather such as high winds or heavy snow.
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sntsk‘il’ntən–Black Mountain Regional Park
sntsk‘il’ntən–Black Mountain is a vast 640-hectare regional park on Kelowna's eastern slopes, where trails climb through endangered grasslands to open viewpoints over the city and the valley. The park carries an nsyilxcən name — the Regional District offers an audio clip to help with pronunciation — and was created through a collective effort to protect this landscape; further park development is still underway, so expect a natural, lightly built experience rather than a finished network. Seven named trails already cover about 13 km — the 3.3 km sntsk‘il’ntən Trail, the 2.7 km Grassland Trail, the 2 km Coyote and Ephemeral Pond trails, the 1.5 km Flume Trail, the 1 km Ridge Trail and the short Hoodoo Trail, rated easy to moderate — while the difficult Summit Loop is currently closed and a section of the park is closed for conservation. Dogs are welcome on leash. There is a parking area off Swainson Road, and the park can also be entered through Tower Ranch Hillside Park, with street parking on Tower Ranch Drive. Park hours shift seasonally, from 6 a.m. to between 6 and 11 p.m., with reduced maintenance from November to March.
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sw̓iw̓s Provincial Park
sw̓iw̓s Provincial Park, formerly Haynes Point, is a sand spit that reaches almost all the way across Osoyoos Lake just south of town. Cottonwoods shade a narrow picnic terrace with tables above the sandy beach, a marsh boardwalk trail explores the wetland, and a single concrete boat ramp serves the lake (stay between the yellow markers in the narrow channel). It is operated by the Osoyoos Indian Band, with flush toilets, on-site parking and trailer parking at the launch, and 41 campsites for the April 1 to October 14 season (gate 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.). Take the warnings seriously: swimming and wading near the exposed sandbar at the tip carry a real risk of undercurrents and steep drop-offs, winds can be severe, poison ivy is common, and there are no lifeguards. Dogs must be leashed; the Town notes a dog swimming area east of the day-use area.
🐾 Dog Friendly
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sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ (Okanagan Falls) Provincial Park Campground
sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ — 'little falls' in the Syilx language — is the provincial campground tucked into Okanagan Falls between the Okanagan River and the steep foothills of Mount McLellan, and it is the closest provincial park camping to Penticton. Thirty-one vehicle-accessible sites sit on irrigated lawn under deciduous trees that throw real shade in July and go gold in October; the sites are medium to large and well spaced, with an information shelter at the head of the loop. The flat Kettle Valley Rail Trail runs between the campground and the river, so the village, the beach at Christie Memorial Park and the Skaha Lake shoreline are a fifteen-minute walk or a five-minute ride away. Come in late September and the sockeye salmon are spawning in the river beside your site; birdwatchers and cyclists use the dike trail year-round. All 31 sites are reservable through BC Parks, the gate runs from April 1 to mid-October, pets must be leashed, and the park closes for one weekend each September for the Okanagan Nation's Salmon Feast. Turn onto Green Lake Road from Highway 97 and drive slowly — the entrance is a narrow road with a blind corner.