Creek Park is one of our favourite places to hike in Naramata, BC. The trail is lovely year round, and worth visiting regularly to witness the changes that each season brings. We’ve explored this park in the spring, summer, fall and just recently in the winter.
Even though our youngest (4) is capable of hiking the Creek Park trail (2.4 km, round trip) on his own, a snowy path, big boots and snowsuit make winter hiking a bit more challenging. Anticipating this challenge we brought a plastic sled tied to a rope. The sled worked really well for the first half of the trail which is wider but as the trail got narrower and steeper the sled was no longer safe to use. Luckily the creek crossings were snow packed which made them easy to cross and the waterfall, where we usually stop, was frozen over like an ice castle, so pretty.
We’ve hiked Creek Park many times but it looked completely different covered in ice and snow, breathtakingly beautiful. However, hiking along and across a creek in the winter poses some very real risks and caution is needed. On our recent hike, there were sections of the trail that were quite slippery. However, the biggest risk was being close to the snow covered creek. Children, sometimes even adults, can mistakenly walk onto the snow covered creek thinking it’s solid and fall through. We had to remind our children to be extra careful by the creek and stick to the trail.
Naramata’s Creek Park is located north of Penticton, BC on the east side of Okanagan Lake. To get there drive north towards Naramata and just before swerving left down into the small town of Naramata look for a narrow, easy to overlook, road on the right side. There is a bus stop and park signage at the end of the road. The entrance to the park is very easy to miss unless you know what to look for.