Kettle River Recreation Area – an unexpected gem

Kettle Creek

Such a beautiful spot to stop for a rest…. #unexpected #havetogoback 

 After our stop in Kelowna we were traveling down to Castlegar down hwy 33. Other than these prairie folk still adjusting to driving on the edge of a cliff it was a beautiful drive. As we travel we are always looking for spots a couple hours down the road as “relief valves”. These spots where we can get out of the vehicle, explore a bit and let the kids blow off some steam outside of the vehicle. 

Scanning the road ahead on Google maps and spotted the Kettle River Recreation Area on our root we decided this was as good as any place to spot. Honestly, we knew nothing about the location other then it was a green spot on the map. We were pleasantly surprised. 

When we turned off the highway the area had suffered from a wildfire, perhaps the year or two before, but was beginning to recover. As we drove down the winding path we discovered the original beauty of the area in the lower area where the fire did not touch. With large majestic pine all around we pulled into the main parking area. The kids were immediately excited about the playground but we knew there was an old train bridge around from the pictures and wanted to check it out. 

Parking down closer to the river in a lower parking lot we all jumped out and made our way down towards the river. We remember there were a couple wasp nests along the way, they didn’t bother us, just more of a note. Once on the river, we could see the old train bridge which had since been converted to a footbridge on the Trans Canada Trail. As we looked down the river we could see people floating down the lazy river on their tubes. 

On the opposite side of the river, there was a bike trail which we began to hike down. Wow, we wished we had our bikes along as it looked like a lot of fun with little jumps along the way. On the side of the cliff, there were old mines that had been closed off but you could still look through the grates as smell the wonderful smell of abandoned mines. 

Our only thought after all this was that we didn’t have enough time here and need to come back again in the future. What is your place where you did not have enough time and plan to go back again in the future? Leave us a note in the comments below. 

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