 Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park, Mark Lee photo
Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park, 30 minutes east of Kamloops, is home to a section of the Adams River, where in early October thousands of Sockeye Salmon can be viewed at the beginning their spawning cycle. Every fourth year is a "dominant run" (the next upcoming in 2010), when those thousands of Sockeye become millions. The river section of the park's 988ha/2,440ac features an interpretive area explaining the salmon's remarkable spawning cycle. In addition to salmon viewing opportunities, Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park offers a 26km/16mi trail system, excellent for hiking and mountain biking in summer and cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing in winter. To get to the park travel east on Highway 1 from Kamloops, turn off at the Quaaout Resort/Scotch Creek exit, and head 5km/3mi north.
Wells Gray Provincial Park  Wells Gray Provincial Park is a spectacular wilderness area 26km/75mi north of Kamloops along Highway 5A. The park's towering mountains, deep canyons, volcanic cones, ancient old-growth forests, raging white-water rivers, and Helmcken Falls (one of Canada's highest waterfalls at 137m/449ft) provide incredible terrain creating a world-class destination for canoeing, rafting, kayaking, fly-fishing, hiking, camping, and horseback riding.
Lac Du Bois Provincial Park Located just a few minutes from downtown, Lac Du Bois Provincial Park extends north and west from the hot warm Thompson Valley to hills above, creating a varied landscape of desert grasslands and forests – amazing terrain for hiking. The use of recreational ATVs is strictly prohibited in the park; however there is a designated area located just outside the park's boundary to the south. Lac Du Bois is situated beyond Bachelor Heights on the North Shore, where a gravel road begins. The road is narrow, but well traveled. Check with the Kamloops Visitor Centre (1290 West Trans Canada Highway) for more information about provincial parks in the area.
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