Sandon, BC is one of those places and worth a visit when in the area. Sandon is located in the Kootenays of British Columbia, approximately 45 minutes west of Kaslo. The drive to this ghost town is lovely , winding through the mountains and forests.
It is free to visit this community. If you do choose to visit, stop into the general store first for some information on the area. They also have some antiques and artifacts from the area on display which are neat to see.
There is a museum on site that does charge an entry fee. It was not open when we were there as we arrived quite early. It is also free to tour the power plant on site that has been restored.
Sandon was known as the Silver City and was at the centre of the richest silver-lead producing area in Canada. Galena ore was first discovered in this area in 1891 which drew may prospectors to the area. By 1898 there were 5000 residents. However by 1920 the town was de-incorporated. As silver prices declined so did this town. It became a Japanese internment camp during WWII. Much of the town was destroyed in 1955 by a massive flood and what was left after the water dissipated was looted and destroyed by looters.
A few buildings do remain including the original city hall from 1900 and the powerhouse.
There is a fleet of old busses and trolleys which you are welcome to enter and look around, and some old vehicles and an old train which my kids thought were pretty neat.
Retired city buses
The old roads have become hiking trails and if you follow them you may happen upon some abandoned homes.
one to the hiking trails
an abandoned cabin
We enjoyed touring the power plant which is small and self guided. It was neat to see the original equipment working. They also have some images posted from when the town still existed which are neat to see.
The Hydro Electric Station
If you follow the trail that runs along the front of the power plant it leads to an old wooden bridge across the river where you can view a waterfall. The trail is very short and leads through the trees.
When in Sandon there is a road that leads up to Idaho Peak. If you plan to drive up there for great views, it is best to go early in the morning before there is much traffic on the road. This is a narrow road, many spots are only wide enough for one vehicle and can be a bit rough. We opted not to drive up the day we were there, but do plan to return to check it out another time. There is hiking available at the top as well as mountain biking.
Have you been to Sandon? What did you think?
When you are travelling do you look for places that are off the beaten path? Places many people don’t know about? Hidden gems?
We are slowly trying to visit places near to us that we have on our bucket list. Our kids really enjoy living history museums and we thought we would plan a weekend around that this summer.
Rocky Mountain House is just over 2 hours north of Calgary. It is a nice drive up through rolling hills and without a great deal of traffic. Being that it is a National Historic Site, your Parks Canada Pass will gain you free entry.
We elected to camp on site. The campground is an open area, but the sites are quite large and each site is equipped with a picnic table and a fire pit. There are no hookups on the sites, but there is a water fill station. For sewage dump you do need to go into Rocky Mountain House where there is a pay dump station at the Visitor Centre. This is a small campground, however it did not fill up when we were there.
Our campsite for the weekend
When you check in, staff will provide you with a map of the entire site along with tokens for the showers. They do run an evening program some nights at the campground, however we didn’t make it to one.
It is wide open skies here, so you get a pretty great sunset view. We also spent one evening watching a storm roll in from off in the distance which was kind of neat.
At the one end of the campground is the beginning of some of the historic site as well as a viewing platform to view the bison from. The path then meanders through grasslands, past the tipi campsite, and up into the forest where you join the main loop of attractions. You can book a Tipi to camp in for the night here as well as Trapper Tents and Trapline Cabins.
Tipi CampsiteAlways need to get a picture in the red chairs at any of the National Parks
There was a tipi set up with 2 interpreters dressed up as Metis who were showing off some of the tools that would have been used when this fort was in operation. They did tell us that some days they are prepping pelts at this site. This is slightly off from the main site, but can be worth a wander down as they do perform different activities down here. We arrived just as they were setting up, so if you waited until a bit later there would be more going on at this spot.
Once we arrived at the main site the kids wanted to check out the museum and learn a bit more about this site before venturing around more. They had a virtual reality activity so the kids could see what the fort would have been like when it was in operation. My kids loved that and thought it was pretty neat. They had 2 different options as our youngest was too small for the main virtual reality, but they had one where he felt he did the same as his big sister.
The museum is small, but has a wealth of information and many hands on activities for kids. This would be a good spot to take a break from the heat on a hot summer day.
After exploring the museum and enjoying all of the activities it was time to head back outside. The kids wanted to go and see what the blacksmiths were making. We wandered over and watched them make some hot dog roasters. We ended up returning a few times throughout the day as my oldest thought this was pretty neat and loved watching them work. While they were working they shared information about the fort, about the Metis heritage and some fun facts about the area.
While our oldest was watching the blacksmiths work, our youngest had a great time pretending he was setting off on great voyages in his long boat. It was hard to get him out of the boat.
Once we could convince him to get out of the boat we wandered over to the Metis Tent to explore it and try some fresh made bannock that had been cooked on the fire. While the kids were waiting for the bannock to finish cooking they enjoyed chatting with the interpreters about their Metis heritage and the Metis culture. After chatting for a while one of the interpreters asked my kids if they would like to see some of the traditional dances. Of course our kids said yes, so the fiddle came out and we got to watch some dancing. After they performed a few dances, the kids were invited up to learn a dance. This was certainly a highlight for our daughter.
Our sons absolute favourite thing to do here was to watch the David Thompson Puppet Play. This is a play all about the life of David Thompson with singing and story telling. They keep the children well engaged throughout and our youngest still likes to occasionally tell me the story of David Thompson.
We spent the entire day having fun on site and participating in the numerous activities, talking with the interpreters and having fun.
We noticed the bison had moved closer to the main visitor area near the end of the day, so went over to watch them for a few minutes before heading back to the camp site for dinner.
We took a different trail back to the campsite that followed along the river for some of it and some of it was through the forest. This trail also passed by the Trapper tents and Cabins.
This is a great place to visit with kids whether it is for the day or to make a weekend of.
If you are up there for the weekend then it is also worth stopping into the visitor centre in Rocky Mountain House and viewing the museum they have there. Be sure to ask at the desk for the scavenger hunt for the kids. If they complete the scavenger hunt they will get a prize. I took the kids in while my husband waited for the Sani-Station for our trailer.
Have you been to Rocky Mountain House? Is there something we missed?
For the next 3 nights we were booked into Fish Creek Campground on the west side of the park. We had popped into the campground the day we drove the Going-To-The-Sun road to see if they had any sites available that would keep us in one site for our entire time there. Well, luck was on our side as we were able to obtain a better site than we had originally booked and for all 3 nights.
We camped in Loop C which we would highly recommend if you camp here. There are no hookups and generators are not permitted in this loop. The reason we like this loop is that the sites are quite large and some of them even back onto Lake McDonald. Our Site was one of those sites that backed onto the lake. While the site doesn’t open up right onto the lake, there is no one behind you and it is a very short walk down through the trees to be on the beach. This is especially nice when your children decide to wake up early in the morning since you can take them down there for a nice walk or to throw rocks.
Or even an early dip! We did go for a nice swim later in the afternoon as well when the air had warmed up considerably more.
We decided today would be a good day to take it easy so we didn’t overdo the hiking with the kids. We spent some time playing board games and walking around the campground in the morning.
When the kids started to get a bit antsy we headed over to the visitor centre in West Glacier to see what they would recommend for hikes with the kids or anything we maybe weren’t aware of. We also used this time as a chance to go for a drive and get a better lay of the land and a sense of how long it would take to get to trail heads from the campground.
A fun stop is Apgar Village where there is a nature centre. This is a log home nestled in the trees, with interactive hands on exhibits about the park. This a great place to drop in on a warm day as it is located in the shade. It is a great place to learn about the park and the wildlife you may possibly encounter. The rangers here had a wealth of knowledge and information to share with us and we had a great time chatting with them about the changes they have seen over the years in the park. There are scheduled ranger led talks in front of this building throughout the summer.
After dinner was the perfect time to go and check out McDonald Lake Lodge. The kids thought it was a neat lodge with the log beams, and even more exciting was the fact that the Red Jammers are parked here at night. They also enjoyed checking out the gift shop and seeing if there were any items they wanted to use their spending money on.
We finished off the night with a special treat at Eddie’s Cafe in Apgar Village. You can sit out on the patio and enjoy watching the people go by while watching the lake. A slice of Huckleberry Peach Pie, an order of Huckleberry Cobbler and a slice of Chocolate Overload Torte were what were ordered. My husband and the kids had dessert and shared bites of each. The servings were quite large, and I was surprised the kids finished theres. My youngest said the Peach Huckleberry pie was the best and delicious.
When you travel with kids, do you build in a rest/quiet day? Do you plan out your trips in advance or just roll with it?
If you missed the previous posts about Glacier National Park, you can find them here:
