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With a total land area of just about 360,000 square miles, and most of it rugged alpine country, hiking tours of British Columbia are bountiful and varied. British Columbia also has a population density of fewer than five people per square kilometer as a large amount of the province’s 4.5 million inhabitants live in the metro areas of Vancouver and Victoria.  With this kind of open space, you will locate privacy and natural vistas that in many cases have been seldom explored on foot by Europeans and a keen understanding of B.C.’s motto, “Splendor Without Diminishment”.

Canada’s department of ecology, Environment Canada, has categorized British Columbia into six separate ecological zones, each of which provides hikers a unique experience. Of course, as hiking and other forms of outdoor recreation has grown in popularity, so have the number of vacation rentals and Canada bed and breakfasts all through the province. Lodgings at a range of prices from as low as $24 (CDN) per night might be located in even the most remote areas.

If you are interested in an all inclusive resort that is genuinely a pampering experience, consider Cathedral Lakes Lodge near Penticton in south-central British Columbia.  Hiking trails at 7000 foot elevations can bring you to any one of seven unspoiled mountain lakes where the trout fishing is very good .

Ecotourism is just one appealing hiking opportunity that is broadly available in British Columbia. These are excursions, frequently taken on foot, in which the public have the chance to trek to a number of the more ecologically susceptible regions including the coastal clement rainforests that stretch from the Alaskan panhandle to northern California and the delicate sub-arctic taiga and boreal plains.

Sponsored by the province’s municipal governments and non-profit organizations, these ecotours are handled in a way so that participants leave a minimal footprint on the region while having a chance to observe native flora and fauna in a pure state. Because so much of British Columbia is uninhabited by humans, hikers will have a chance to see many kinds of wildlife that have become rare in the more heavily populated U.S.

If you are searching for a variation from hiking in British Columbia’s glorious mountain country from one of the region’s cabin rentals, you may also consider agritourism. As is the case in Washington and Oregon to the south, British Columbia is an important agricultural center, mainly in the southern and eastern segments of the province.  Agritours give hikers a chance to see and even participate in the workings of eco friendly farms in a few of Canada’s most varied farmlands.