Williams Lake

The small city of Williams Lake is situated within the Central Interior of British Columbia, which is known as the Cariboo area. It is the biggest urban center between Kamloops and Prince George. The population of the city is roughly 10,744.

The city of Williams Lake plays hosts each year the Williams Lake Stampede. This Stampede takes place during Canada Day long weekend. Rick Hansen, the Canadian paraplegic athlete also calls the town home. He became famous during his fundraising for the Man in Motion world tour and is also an activist for people who have spinal cord injuries.

The city of Williams Lake is situated 74 miles or 119 km south of Quesnel and south of the biggest Cariboo area city, Prince George by 241 km or 151 miles. Williams Lake could be situated at the junction of Highway 20, the Bella Coola Highway and the Cariboo Highway 97. The city of Williams Lake sits 548 km or 343 miles northeast of Vancouver and 451 or 282 miles east of Bella Coola.

Williams Lake has for over 100 years been a focal point and service center for several ranches within and all-around the Cariboo and Chilcotin regions.

The first founding of the city comprised a single building in the Glendale and Comer area. A small chapel was built during the 1840s, within a Shuswap settlement. The church and encampment flourished with the influx of gold prospectors and fur traders from Europe and eventually, the area turned into a small service centre.

Williams Lake became the modern commercial and transportation center of the well-known Cariboo area. The town still encompasses its western frontier character. The friendly and relaxed environment makes it an excellent location to discover the neighboring areas. The central location of the city has made it a great location to go to. It is a fantastic base to explore the cedar forests, the gold rush county of the east, or travel west and explore the vastness of the Chilcotin Plateau. People can head south to see the Okanagan valley and further on the Lower Mainland and the Pacific Ocean and venture north and discover Prince George and carry onto Alaska.

One of the unique places to go to in the city of Williams Lake is the Scout Island Nature Centre. It is a fantastic place to see waterfowl, and shorebirds that populate the wetland marsh. Tourists would be able to see black-capped chickadees, ospreys, bald eagles, marsh wren, great blue heron, yellow-headed blackbird, songbirds, flycatchers, gulls, hummingbirds, swallows, hooded merganser and Brewer's blackbird.

Some of the local animal residents comprise muskrats, river otters, beavers, otters, mink in addition to others. The Scout Island Nature Centre includes lake and marsh grassland, small forests and 2.5 km or 1.5 miles of nature trails which provide perfect opportunities for numerous wildlife and bird encounters. There are viewing platforms in addition to the Nature House provides several natural history displays where individuals can study local ecosystems.