Cathedral Provincial Park and Protected Area

Cathedral Provincial Park and Protected Area
Quiniscoe Lake of the Cathedral Lakes
Map showing the location of Cathedral Provincial Park and Protected Area
Map showing the location of Cathedral Provincial Park and Protected Area
Location of Cathedral Provincial Park and Protected Area in British Columbia
LocationOkanagan-Similkameen, British Columbia, Canada
Nearest townPrinceton, British Columbia
Area33,272 hectares (Park)
82,217 acres (Park)
353 hectares (Protected Area)
872 acres (Protected Area)
Established1968
Governing bodyBC Parks
Websitebcparks.ca/explore/parkpgs/cathedral/ Edit this at Wikidata
Map

Cathedral Provincial Park and Protected Area, usually known as Cathedral Provincial Park and also as Cathedral Park, is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. It is located east of E.C. Manning Provincial Park, south of BC Highway 3, and southeast of the town of Princeton, and southwest of Keremeos. Its southern boundary is the border with the United States. Much of the park is the basin of the Ashnola River. Cathedral Park is home to teal sub-alpine lakes, vast ridges and jarred peaks, old-growth forests, and rock formations of siltstone, granodiorite, and basalt.[2] Hikers can scramble along various peaks such as the 8000-foot Grimface Mountain and Lakeview Mountain. Tourists flock to Smokey the Bear and Stone City because of their unique formations with incredible views formed by millennia of erosion, volcanic and tectonic activity, and glacial recession.[3]

The park has a mixed history of use from Indigenous Peoples and a variety of endemic species, as well as resource extraction, including forestry and recreational use such as hiking, camping, and fishing. Today the park primarily serves the purpose of facilitating recreation as a "Class A" provincial park. Climate change poses a threat to the park due to recent wildfires. The future of the park depends on the management of these issues and more.

  1. ^ "Cathedral Park". Protected Planet. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
  2. ^ Evans, Martin; Slaymaker, Olav (July 2004). "Spatial and temporal variability of sediment delivery from alpine lake basins, Cathedral Provincial Park, southern British Columbia". Geomorphology. 61 (1–2): 209–224. Bibcode:2004Geomo..61..209E. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2003.12.007.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference BC Parks-2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).