There are many excellent hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding trails near Grand Forks. The Trans Canada Trail/Spirit of 2010 Trail runs through it and there is also an extensive network of local trails. A guide to all of the trails in “Boundary Country” is available at the Visitor Info Centre.
Skateboarders can work on their ollies at the Grand Forks Skatepark and BMX’ers of all ages and abilities can enter races on the city’s ABA-sanctioned BMX racetrack. Campgrounds around Grand Forks offer shaded sites, picturesque settings and ready access to water-oriented recreation on the Kettle River.
When you walk around Grand Forks, it’s easy to imagine what the town must have been like 100 years ago, during the mining and logging boom years. Much of the original, 19th century town was destroyed by fire in the early 1900s but it was quickly built up again and many of the buildings from that second wave of construction remain. The best way to appreciate them is by taking guided or self-guided historical walking tours of the city. These tours start at the Provincial Court House (1911) and take in the Grand Forks Hotel (1909), the old Post Office (now City Hall), charming heritage homes and more.
You can walk, cycle or horseback ride along many abandoned and/or converted rail lines around the city and see some impressive examples of turn-of-the century railroad engineering. Bridges, trestles, tunnels and rock walls can all be seen along the Trans Canada Trail/Spirit of 2010 Trail. Some of the rock walls, which were built to hold the railway grade in place, are as high as 30 m (100 ft).
The Doukhobors settled in Grand Forks between 1909 and 1913 and they’ve strongly influenced the character of the place ever since. At the Mountain View Doukhobor Museum, you’ll find Russian-style textiles, old photographs, traditional tools and products of early Doukhobor industries. The Grand Forks Milling Cooperative was established to serve the sect in 1915 and is still producing flour today. The Fructova Heritage Centre, constructed in 1929, was originally a school. It now houses the Peace Information Centre, the Environmental Resource Centre, the Doukhobor Heritage Display and a library. More displays on the Doukhobors – as well as agriculture, mining and First Nations culture – can be found in the Boundary Museum.
You will come upon many sites of historical interest as you hike along trails near the copper mining ghost town of Phoenix (20 minutes east of Grand Forks). These include remnants of the town itself, a WW1 cenotaph, a mine shaft, the 200-m (656-ft) Glenside Creek Trestle and the Rock Oven Camp.
If you love art, you’ll be delighted by the breadth and quality of the Grand Forks Art Gallery’s collection. Historical and contemporary works by established and emerging regional, national and international artists are exhibited there.
There are all sorts of things to do on a day out in Grand Forks. You can explore local history in the Boundary Museum, admire the lush plantings and turn-of-the-century artifacts in Pioneer Garden or play a round of Mini Golf.
One of the area’s most unusual attractions is Big Rock Candy Mountain. It offers family-friendly mineral prospecting outings at the site of an abandoned mine. All summer long, you’ll find families and tour groups quarrying for colourful crystals there. You can collect – and keep – quartz geodes, green and purple fluorite and yellow barite crystals in the midst of some spectacular mountain scenery. If you’d like to learn about the mining boom days and other facets of local history, take a guided, 1.25-hour historical walking tour of the city.
Grand Forks is the hub of Boundary Country, so a lot of the area’s entertainment options are concentrated there. In addition to 16 art exhibitions, the Grand Forks Art Gallery presents concerts, artists’ talks, unique fundraisers, wine tasting events and regional showcase events each year. There’s a bike race every Tuesday on the ABA-Canadian sanctioned BMX bike track in City Park. Racers of all ages and abilities are welcome. The Farmers’ Market offers certified organic vegetables, fruit, crafts, plants and more from June to October.
The lakes and rivers in and around Grand Forks attract birds and other wildlife in great numbers. Wards Lake, a wildlife refuge, is particularly popular with birders. Gladstone Provincial Park, in the Monashee Mountains, protects blue-listed bighorn sheep and grizzly bears and red-listed northern leopard frogs. It also contains kokanee spawning areas and winter ranges for deer and elk. In summer, you can hike, camp, picnic, canoe or swim in one of the warmest and clearest lakes in Canada. Tranquil, tree-lined Christina Lake is also a great place to fish for kokanee, rainbow trout and smallmouth bass.
City Park is located in downtown Grand Forks. It offers beach access to the Kettle River, a riverside walking path, a playground and a BMX racetrack. In summertime, recreational options there include swimming, fishing, tubing, camping and picnicking.
Water and relaxation go hand in hand in Grand Forks. You’ll find many secluded, sandy beaches along the Kettle and Granby Rivers and some of the province’s most picturesque lakes are just minutes from the centre of town. Christina Lake, Jewel Lake and Conkle Lake are all popular spots for relaxing, sight-seeing and picnicking. And, when the weather’s really hot, there’s nothing like floating lazily down the river on an inner tube.
Two rivers, the Granby and the Kettle, run through Grand Forks and quite a number of lakes lie near it. Christina Lake, in Gladstone Provincial Park, is a particularly tranquil and scenic tree-lined lake. One of Canada’s warmest lakes, it’s certainly an exceptional swimming destination but it’s also a superb canoeing, kayaking, boating, sailing, parasailing and fishing destination. Kokanee, smallmouth bass and rainbow trout are the main catches there.
Paddlers can put in to numerous secluded beaches, view cedar trees that are 2.4 m (8 ft) in diameter, watch kokanee spawning in McCrae Creek in fall and see First Nations pictographs in their original locations on the north shore.
In town, you can fish, swim and tube on either of the rivers or take advantage of the excellent facilities in the Grand Forks & District Aquatic Centre. In addition to a 25-m (82-ft) leisure pool, the centre contains a whirlpool, sauna and well-equipped fitness studio.
Winter in Grand Forks is just as much fun as summer. You can cross-country ski at Marshall Lake/Providence Lake, Jewel Lake and the Kettle Valley Rail Trail. Snowmobiling is possible in the North Fork Valley, where cabins are situated 24 km (15 mi) and 43 km (27 mi) from the city.
The nearest ski hill is Phoenix Mountain, which has 11 runs on 800 vertical feet. You can downhill ski, snowboard, cross-country ski and night ski there. October through March, Grand Forks offers four sheets of curling and also holds several Bonspiels. The rink in the Grand Forks Arena offers ice skating, hockey and figure skating from September through March.