The best camping near Kentucky Alleyne Provincial Park

Set in the arid high country just north of Coquihalla Mountain Pass, this park in BC’s interior is for lake lovers. Named for the two turquoise lakes its campgrounds skirt, Kentucky Alleyne Provincial Park is a fishing (the lakes and ponds are stocked with rainbow trout), boating, and paddling destination. There’s also spectacular wildflower viewing and a big-sky aura of the old west here, with the rolling golden grasslands of a decades-old ranch surrounding the park. Venture little more than an hour to the east and you’ll be in the vineyards of the Okanagan Valley’s wineries.

• Best for anglers: Any lakeside site by Kentucky Lake (boat launch by #5) and Alleyne Lake (boat launch by #54)
• Best for last-minute walk-ins: Individual sites in the Forest Loop are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Best for big families: Forest Loop’s updated group campsite for 10 or more people

1. Reservations during peak season (May to October) are highly recommended via the BC Parks online booking site, Discover Camping.
2. Reservations open in early spring, with weekends and most weekdays from June to August typically booking up first and fast, but for non-residents of BC, reservations start July 8.
3. Reservations can be booked within a two-month rolling window. Any arrival dates further than two months from the date of booking cannot be reserved.
4. Outside of the reservable season of May to October, sites are first-come, first-served (FCFS). A block of sites remain FCFS throughout the year.

Summer is high season for fishing and boating (both lakes have boat launches). The lakes remain cold for swimming, but paddling watersports are popular, and lakeshore sites are coveted. Weekdays and weekends alike can be booked solid for long stretches from June to August. The scenery is particularly vibrant with spring and early summer’s wildflowers and then autumn’s burnished-gold hues of the surrounding grasslands.

• Campsite reservations are made through the BC Parks online Discover Camping booking site.
• There’s an engine restriction on motorized boats: 7.5kW (10hp) on both Kentucky Lake and Alleyne Lake.

• Some parts of the lakes’ and ponds’ shoreline may get muddy, especially at Alleyne Lake, making swimming and boat launching awkward and even difficult.
• In July to early August, West Pond is the annual breeding site of the western toad, listed on the federal Species at Risk Act. There are temporary trail and campsite closures around the starting point of the annual migration for tens of thousands of juvenile toads on their journey into the surrounding forest.