The Christmas and New Year’s season are now behind us, our families have gone home and as we reflect on the many great memories we made this last season with our family and our friends, some of us may ask what’s next? What could be our next family get together? Where and when would be a good time to meet up with our best friends? What could be our next adventure with…?
How about going back out to the Radium Hot Springs/Invermere or Lake Windermere areas of British Columbia’s East Kootenay region? Your family so enjoyed the area, the warmer weather and so many great memories were made on that last trip out there over the summer months or this last Christmas. But, you are wondering, what on earth is there to do from January till the grass begins to green up again?
Well, as you discovered on your last family trip, there are plenty of activities to help entertain the kids, give you some quiet time or offer the entire family the opportunities to create some lifelong memories. The winter months are really no different, as there are so many possibilities given the quality of activities available to do.
January, February and March in the Columbia Valley are of course famous for their abundance of snow, especially in the upper elevations and their winter sport activities available to all guests and locals alike. What better way to enjoy the crisp mountain air than on one of the many easy hikes around Radium Hot Springs or Lake Windermere. http://www.radiumhotsprings.com/area-info/maps#page. An easy and enjoyable trail that winds its way along the Columbia wetlands is the “Old Coach Trail”. This fairly easy trail meanders along an old road from Radium Hot Springs to Dry Gulch. Information on the Dry Gulch trail is located here: http://www.radiumhotsprings.com/files/editor_userpages_links/20100812_0_OldCoachTrailBrochureRun.pdf
Great area activities during the winter months involve visiting our local mountain gem, Panorama Mountain Resort, for a day of “snow riding” or tubing in their new tubing park, cross country skiing or snowshoeing at the Columbia Valley/Edgewater Nordic Ski Trails or the Lake Windermere Whiteway, snowmobiling in our back country playground or marveling at the “snow ghosts” as you hike or drive through Kootenay National Park.
Other activities that have been organized in and around Invermere and Lake Windermere include; the annual Snow Flake Festival in Invermere the weekend of January 21st, dogsledding tours through our awe inspiring back country, snow golf and the BC Pond Hockey Championships on Lake Windermere the weekend of February 3/4th and of course Panorama Mountain’s Mardi Gras, the last weekend of February.
If you are looking for some more activities to enjoy with your family but would require a short 15 minute to an hour or so drive, you can check out the Northern Lights Wolf Centre just outside of Golden, BC, weekly Sunday horse drawn sleigh rides at Fort Steele Heritage Town or perhaps a trail ride along Luxor creek or on the adjoining mountainside, at Luxor Creek Corrals, just north or Radium Hot Springs. Further information can be found at: http://www.cobblestonecreek.ca/discover/activities.php
March brings us closer to golf season and spring which results in usually great spring skiing and snowboarding conditions at Panorama Mountain. With night skiing, their new tubing park and the Panorama Mountain Stampede, the weekend of March 16th, what better way to celebrate spring than to enjoy all that the Columbia Valley has to offer. Check out our events calendar for further information on many of these activities: http://www.cobblestonecreek.ca/events/list/
Making family memories together couldn’t get any better!…get out here and “Play”!