Fill your Bucket List in the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast

Is this the year of your epic vacation? What could be better than a trip to the wide-open spaces of the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast – where unique experiences, adrenaline-filled adventures, and natural wonders are in full supply!

To help you curate your next incredible getaway from the everyday, we’ve put together a list of some of the most bucket-list-worthy excursions and experiences throughout the region:

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Unique Adventures

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  Great Bear Sailing Adventures | Jonny Bierman

  Discover your inner cowboy with a guest ranching excursion. The Cariboo Chilcotin Coast is home to more than half of the province’s guest ranches, ranging from rustic to luxury.
• Follow game trails on a guided horsepack trip. Get further into the backcountry with professional horsepacking tour guides for the opportunity to see moose, lynx, caribou, wolves and some incredible landscapes.
• Boat the Central Coast. See nature up close and tour the coastal waters of the Great Bear Rainforest with experienced boat charter operators.
• Explore a rugged landscape in search of some of the largest mule deer in the world with a guided hunting expedition.
• Attend an authentic and historic rodeo event Canada Day, when Williams Lake, BC, rolls out the welcome to visitors and competitors alike for the Williams Lake Stampede.
• Embark on something truly remarkable with Canadian Signature Experiences. From 5-star dude ranches to unparalleled views of grizzlies plucking salmon from a rarely visited river, the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast is well represented in Canadian Signature Experiences, a brand that promises the very best of Canadian travel with a selection of over 200 experiences. In fact, one could easily fill a bucket list of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities when selecting from nine CSEs from this vast and varied region.

Adrenaline Thrills

• Go where few, if any, have gone with a flightseeing tour. Discover glaciers, waterfalls, mountain lakes, peaks and valleys, hidden fishing spots, hiking and biking trails, and backcountry camping.
• Fly/bike the South Chilcotin for pure wilderness singletrack, offering over 200 km (124 mi) of trails traversing meadows and alpine ridges for an epic adventure.
• Lay down fresh tracks with limitless runs and vertical on a heli-skiing adventure. Take in champagne powder skiing or boarding, with metres of untouched white gold for a once-in-a-lifetime experience exploring an area larger than the entire Swiss Alps.

Natural Splendor

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  Bowron Lakes | Adam Walls

  Paddle the Bowron Lake Canoe Circuit. Canoe or kayak the 116km (72mi) circuit, made up of 10 lakes, taking 7 to 10 days to complete, or select the shorter, 3 to 4-day loop to connect with nature.
• Immerse yourself in the Great Bear Rainforest. Visit one of the largest intact tracts of coastal temperate rainforest left in the world, the wild, rugged beauty of British Columbia’s central coast draws people from around the world for fishing, hiking, kayaking, wildlife viewing and taking in Indigenous culture and history.
• Search for Spirit Bears. The ghostly graceful movements of the reclusive Kermode or “Spirit bears” can be found amidst the emerald old-growth forests of the world’s largest coastal temperate rainforest. Considered the rarest bear in the world, a small ship expedition is the best way to spot these elusive creatures.
• Camp with bears. Stay in a luxury, safari-style camp perched above the shores of the Chilko River – right in the heart of some of the world’s best habitat for grizzly bears.
• Take to the water with a chartered boat tour to see some of British Columbia’s spectacular coastal scenery, along with orca, Stellar sea lions, seals, river otter, humpback whales and Pacific white-sided dolphins – as well as some of the world’ best fishing grounds for halibut and salmon.
• Follow game trails with a guided eco-tour operator to find wildlife including wolves, bobcat, mink, fox, deer, bears, bighorn sheep and mountain goats in their natural habitat.
• Quest for the Top – add some more brag to your bucket list with these natural wonders: 
  • Great Bear Rainforest – planet’s largest coastal rainforest
  • Quesnel Lake – World’s deepest fjord lake
  • Chilko Lake – North America’s largest high-altitude lake
  • Cariboo Mountains Provincial Park – only inland temperature rainforest in North America
  • Chilcotin Grasslands – last intact grasslands on the planet
  • Hunlen Falls – Canada’s third-highest single-drop waterfall
  • Mount Waddington – BC’s highest mountain peak
  • Tweedsmuir Provincial Park – BC’s largest provincial park

Discover a Road Less Travelled

• Tour the Gold Rush Trail. Retrace history following the path of gold seekers, following the mighty Fraser River through the Fraser Valley and continuing on to Quesnel and then east to Wells & Barkerville Historic Town & Park.
• Travel Chilcotin Highway 20. Stretching westward from the Cariboo plateau to the shores of Bella Coola, travel through pristine and varied wilderness, stopping at sporadic communities to take in small-town charm.
• Cast a line on BC’s Fishing Highway 24. At only 97 km (60 mi) long, BC’s famed “fishing highway” is a short but exceptionally scenic route offering anglers the chance to dip into nearly 100 crystal clear lakes. Don’t fish? Kayak, canoe, SUP, or hike the shoreline of this serene and scenic area.
• See the sights on Highway 40 (Carpenter Lake Road) and the Bridge River Valley. Travel 105km (65 mi) from Lillooet through breathtaking scenery from arid canyons, the Bridge River Gorge, along turquoise Carpenter Lake, ending deep in the Coast Mountains at the historic settlements of Gold Bridge.
• Journey along the Likely-Barkerville Back Road. Take the slower road from Likely to Barkerville on this wilderness trek through the Cariboo Mountains, complete with waterfalls, lush valleys and flower-strewn alpine meadows.

Are you ready to start planning your bucket list vacation? Start by downloading a free travel guide for more inspiration, and also print this list so you can check off experiences as you go!

Download Checklist