Go wild with water sports and dense forest expeditions on a camping trip near Sicamous.
Easily accessible where the Trans-Canada Highway meets Highway 97A, Sicamous is set in the heart of Shuswap Country, British Columbia. Swimming, fishing, wakeboarding, and waterskiing are popular in summer on Mara Lake and Shuswap Lake, where the lakeshores meet a dense, coniferous forest full of towering old growth cedar, hemlock, and Douglas fir trees. RV parks with full hookups dot the area, as well as more rustic campgrounds with tent sites, picnic tables, and easy access to forested hiking trails. In winter, head to higher elevations for alpine activities like sledding, snowshoeing, and epic snowmobiling.
Set on the shores of the lake for which it is named, Shuswap Lake Provincial Park is a popular destination for swimming, fishing, and other water sports. Copper Island, accessible only by boat, offers a meandering 2.8-kilometre hiking trail. Overnight camping on Copper Island is not allowed, but the park features hundreds of vehicle-accessible sites for tent camping and group camping, plus RV sites with electrical hookups. Hot showers, flush toilets, and picnic areas are available, too. Learn more about the area with nature interpretation programs in July and August.
Hipcampers don’t have to venture far for waterfalls—Sicamous Creek is minutes away from its namesake town. From the parking lot, it’s just a short, 400-metre easy-grade loop trail to reach the base of Sicamous Creek Falls (but the waterfall mist can make for a slippery, rocky path, so mind your step). Visit in late spring or early summer when the snow is melting to see the falls at their most spectacular—you can enjoy a great view of the twin waterfalls before continuing to the 1.1-kilometre Canyon Loop Trail. For more of an adventure, get on two wheels at the Lizard Mountain Bike trail.
To the south of Sicamous is Mara Lake and its 13-hectare Mara Provincial Park—a popular day-use site with a family picnic area, drinking water, and public toilets, plus great swimming, boating, and waterskiing. With an appropriate freshwater fishing license, send out a line for rainbow trout, white sucker, and Northern pikeminnow. The park is only open from May to September, and while it doesn’t allow overnight camping, nearby campgrounds, including RV resorts, dot the eastern shore of Mara Lake.
June to August is the most popular time to camp near Sicamous, BC. Warm weather is ideal for watersports and beach days, and longer days give more time for hiking and spotting local wildlife like moose, ospreys, beavers, and black bears. The peak season gets crowded, so book early. For a quieter escape and cooler weather, spring and fall are excellent options, too. Along with the fall foliage, September and October are also harvest season, meaning visits to nearby farms and orchards for apples, peaches, and pears.