ABOUT THE THOMPSON-NICOLA REGION - QUICK FACTS

Location

• The Thompson-Nicola region is North-East of Vancouver
• The City of Kamloops is the largest community in the region with a population of more than 87,000 but with services to support more than 125,000 (more)
• 11 Municipalities are in the region: Ashcroft, Barriere, Cache Creek, Chase, Clearwater, Clinton, City of Kamloops, Logan Lake, Lytton, City of Merritt, and Sun Peaks Mountain Resort.
• 10 Electoral Areas with unincorporated communities such as 70 Mile House, Blue River, Brookmere, Little Fort, Lower Nicola, Monte Lake, Pritchard, Quilchena, Spences Bridge, Savona, Walhachin, Westwold, and many others.
• The Thompson-Nicola region is on Pacific Standard Time (PST) - same as Vancouver and Los Angeles

Climate

• Semi-arid; desert-like weather and landscapes; dry in all seasons (climate charts)
• More than 2000 hours of sunshine annually
• One of the warmest and driest regions in Canada
• Northern part of region - Blue River – snow all year in Monashee and Cariboo Mountain ranges

Landscapes

• Desert (click here)

  • Kamloops and southwest to Cache Creek, Ashcroft and Spences Bridge.
  • Big Bar area, west of Clinton.
  • Arid, semi-desert, hoodoos, sagebrushed, rolling hills, dred golden grasses, clay cliffs, box canyons, gullies

• Grasslands (click here)

  • Kamloops and south to Merritt through Nicola Valley
  • Grasslands with prairie-like features

• Steep Mountains & Valleys

  • Fraser Canyon from Vancouver to Lytton to Lillooet
  • Thompson River Valley from Lytton to Ashcroft to Savona
  • Clinton and west to Big Bar area
  • North Thompson Valley
  • Turtle Valley near Chase
  • Tranquille Creek valley near Kamloops
  • Deadman/Vidette Valley
  • Upper Hat Creek valley near Cache Creek and Marble Canyon
  • Lower Hat Creek valley near Ashcroft
  • Venables Valley with savannah near Spences Bridge and Blue Earth Lake Provincial Park
  • Botanie Valley near Lytton
  • Empire Valley northwest of Big Bar
  • Coquihalla Valley near Merritt and Brookmere
  • Sculpted valleys with dramatic views and rock formations, lush with rivers and small lakes, some with rolling hills and some with rugged mountains

• Snow Year-Round

  • Blue River in North Thompson valley (click here)
  • Snow-capped mountains heavily treed with evergreens, rugged, many small towns nestled in North Thompson River valley with snow all year 'round (click here)
  • Also look to the Clinton area, the Gateway to the Cariboo, and Marble Range & Coastal Mountains (click here)

• Lakes

  • More than 1,000 lakes.
  • Largest are Kamloops Lake, Adams Lake, Little Shuswap Lake & East Barriere Lake

• Rivers

  • LARGEST: Fraser River . North Thompson River . South Thompson River . Thompson River
  • MIDDLE: Clearwater River . Coldwater River . Nicola River . Adams River
  • OTHERS: Bonaparte River . Salmon River

• Parks & Waterfalls

  • Wells Gray Provincial Park (click here) is 5,200 sq km (2,000 sq miles)
  • Wells Gray Provincial Park comprises famous waterfalls such as Helmcken Falls, Spahatts Falls, Moul Falls, and many others, valleys and rivers with exciting rapids
  • Thompson-Nicola provincial campgrounds (click here)
  • Thompson-Nicola forestry recreation sites (click here)
  • Thompson-Nicola's hundreds of miles of trails (click here).

• Ski Resorts & Hills (downhill)

  • Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops (click here)
  • Mike Wiegele Heli-Ski Resort amongst the Monashee and Cariboo Mountain ranges (click here)
  • Harper Mountain in Kamloops overlooking Paul Lake (click here)
  • Clearwater Ski Hill (click here)
  • Numerous cross-country ski trails

Travel

• Auto

•  Vancouver to Kamloops is a 3.5-hour drive via Merritt on the 4-lane divided Coquihalla Highway #5
• Merritt is less than a 3-hour drive from Vancouver on Coquihalla Hwy #5
• Vancouver to Kamloops is a 4.5-hour drive via the Fraser Canyon through Lytton, Ashcroft and Cache Creek on the Trans Canada Highway  #1

• Flying

• Vancouver to Kamloops Airport is a 45 minute direct flight or from Calgary is a 1:20 direct flight 
• Kamloops Airport (click here) has Customs
• Smaller airports for 12-passenger or mid-sized planes, and helicopters are: Campbell Hill Airport in the Ashcroft / Cache Creek area, Merritt Airport and Blue River Airstrip
• Private and smaller airstrips throughout the region in Clearwater, Kamloops and Quilchena plus strips at Douglas Lake Ranch, High Kelly Ranch  in Logan Lake and Echo Valley Ranch & Spa

        Trains

• Canadian National Railroad, Canadian Pacific Railroad, & the Rocky Mountaineer Rail Tours meet in Kamloops and go to Vancouver
• Steam Locomotive, the 2141, operates out of Kamloops (click here)

        Water

• There are small ferries that cross rivers at McLure (Barriere), Big Bar (Clinton/Jesmond), Little Fort and Lytton
• The Wanda Sue, a mid-size Paddle-wheeler Boat, is based in Kamloops

Time

• BC is on Pacific Standard Time (PST), the same as Los Angeles.
• Sunrise/Sunset schedule (click here)
• Daylight Savings Time (DST) begins at 2:00 a.m. local time on the second Sunday in March. Your clocks spring ahead one hour.
• Daylight Savings Time (DST) ends at 2:00 am on the first Sunday in November and returns to Standard Time. Your clocks fall back one hour.
• Canada uses six primary time zones - from west to east - Pacific Time Zone (British Columbia), Mountain Time Zone, Central Time Zone, Eastern Time Zone, Atlantic Time Zone and Newfoundland Time Zone.