Naramata Creek Park in the Summer

Naramata Creek Park is a good place to visit in the summer. The trail winds through a well sheltered gully following Naramata Creek. The towering rock slabs, trees and trickling creek help keep the gully cool, even on the most sweltering of Okanagan days. There are some very interesting rocks along this trail and when the water is low, as it is in the summer, children can explore around the creek bed (tip: watch out for poison ivy).

The hike to the waterfall is about 2.4km, round-trip, and takes about an hour for us to complete. The first part of the trail has several well maintained bridges, a bench and picnic table. The trail is a combination of packed bark mulch and dirt with rocks and roots jutting out. The trail is not stroller friendly, especially the second half.

The first part of the trail is maintained by the Regional District. There’s an outhouse at the trailhead and then several well maintained bridges, a bench and picnic table along the first section of the trail. The trail continues on along, paralleling the creek, but at one point along the trail the park become part of the Nature Trust.  After this point there are no more nice bridges, so if you want to continue hiking to see the waterfalls you must cross the creek twice over rocks and logs.

The first creek crossing and the second creek crossing are close together. They can be very challenging and dangerous in the spring when the water is high, but in the summer when the water is lot it’s quite easy to cross.

There are several trails that break off the main trail, some small ones to the right (down to the creek) and one more official looking trail one that forks left up the hill. Ignore all these trail (especially the left forking trail) and stick to the main trail along creek and eventually you will see the lower waterfall. In the late summer and fall you can hike up the waterfall – it’s beautiful! The steep trail up the waterfall eventually connects with the KVR trail. If you go left on this trail it will intersects with Smethurst Road.

Directions:

Naramata Creek Park is located north of Penticton on the east side of Okanagan Lake. To get there drive north towards Naramata and just before swerving left into the small town of Naramata look for a narrow, easy to overlook, road on the right side. There is park signage at the end of the road. Here is a link to more directions.

For more family friendly hikes in the South Okanagan check out: My Top 10 Kid Friendly Hikes in the South Okanagan.