EC Manning Provincial Park

This 708-sq-km provincial park, 30km southeast of Hope, is a hint of bigger – much bigger – things to come as you head east away from the farmlands of the Lower Mainland towards the Rocky Mountains. It packs in a lot: dry valleys, dark mountainous forests roiling rivers and alpine meadows. The park makes a good pause along Hwy 3, but don't expect solitude, as there are scores of folk from the burgs west seeking the same thing.