An easy 3-hour drive east of Vancouver, E.C. Manning Park is named after the man who was the Chief Forester of British Columbia from 1936 to 1941. Despite overseeing the cutting of large swathes of old-growth forest, he also believed in setting land aside for future generations to enjoy, and we can thank him for that while wishing that fewer ancient cedars had been sacrificed during this tenure. And the destruction continues; today less than 3% of the provinces forests are true “old growth” ecosystems despite the claim by the government that the figure is 23%.

In January 2022 a new campground called Skyview opened in the park and we wanted to check it out. It offers spacious sites for an uncrowded feel, with all sites providing full hookups and many including 50A power, so perfect for powering the trailer and charging the car. And our new Starlink RV service worked perfectly.

There are numerous hiking trails in the park, but because we were on our own and wanted the “bear deterrent” effect of having other hikers on the trail with us we chose two of the most popular ones.

The Three Brothers Mountains Trail is a 21.5km roundtrip/480m route but you can turn around at any time if you want a shorter excursion. The trailhead is at 2000m at the end of a very scenic packed dirt & gravel road so you start high in sub-alpine terrain. It will be an hour and a half before you get to any views; in the meantime enjoy the summer wildflowers and maybe even a grouse meandering along the trail.

The Three Falls Trail is much shorter and flatter and has two odd features; one of the three waterfalls is invisible from the trail and cannot be accessed due to very steep terrain, and a kilometer after start of the trail the trail sign points a the direction that is blocked by what appear to be purposely placed logs. Ignore the logs: the sign is correct so step over them and keep going.

The first fall is nice but the third fall is the one to see! And there the trail ends.

And don’t forget to check out the Skyview Campground views straight up.

(All photos shot using an iPhone 13)