The 8 Best Things to Do in Smithers, Canada

The Smithers Visitor Centre is the place to receive answers to all your questions about the beautiful Bulkley Valley. Drop by and ask our friendly and knowledgeable staff questions concerning your travel or Smithers, and we will do our best to assist you. We can't wait to meet you!

A hidden gem in Northern BC, a large variety of Beginner to Advanced Terrain. Featuring one of the biggest parks in Northern BC. It's always been about the Powder!

Explore the natural and human history of Smithers and the surrounding Bulkley Valley at the Bulkley Valley Museum. Located in the historic Central Park Building, the Museum features engaging and informative displays on local history and culture, including Driftwood Canyon fossils, our Artifact of the Month, and Smithers "gift to civilization" - the egg carton! Explore the streets of Smithers with our free Culture Crawl walking tour - your guide to historic buildings, Gardens, and exhibits around the town. The Museum is fully accessible, has ample on-site parking for RVs, and is kid-friendly! The Bulkley Valley Museum is yours to discover.

Toboggan Creek fish hatchery is a small community based hatchery located near Smithers BC. We raise mainly Coho and Chinook salmon. Here is a generally what our year will look like and what you will see. We raise approx 100,000 salmon fry per year Late March April, May the ice is off generally off of our outside rearing ponds and you can view our larger fry before they make their journey to the ocean. All of our larger fry will generally leave by the end of May. June and July is generally a catch up on projects month and a time to get ready for adult egg and sperm collection. Chinook Broodstock (Adult Salmon used in hatchery breeding process) collection is generally the end of August. This year as in many years we will be collecting Chinook broodstock in the Upper Bulkley or The Little Bulkley in hopes that this stock will continue to spawn for many years to come. August, September, October, November will be our 27th consecutive year of running our data collection fence on Toboggan Creek. All fish entering Toboggan Creek will be counted and assessed as female, male and hatchery or wild. This data is extremely valuable to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in knowing River and Ocean survivals of Salmon and how many survive and return to spawn and carry on the species. It aids in setting commercial, sport and food fish limits as well as getting as better picture of the year to year eco system of our watersheds and oceans. This is an amazing time to visit the Hatchery, there are very large numbers of Coho in the creek all fighting for spots to lay their eggs. Coho Broodstock generally takes place in October right in Toboggan Creek. This stock is raised/enhanced for the purpose of our DFO fence data and has proved successful over the years. Decemeber, January and February we are still open but not much is going on. Our yearling fry will spend the winter outside in our rearing ponds under the ice, safe from predators. There are no small fish inside or large fish in the creek at this time. All of our next Springs fry will be quietly tucked away in their eggs throughout the winter waiting to hatch in the spring. Unfortunately they cannot be viewed at this stage, they have to be left alone with no light, noise or vibrational shock of any kind which can seriously stunt their growth and or kill the eggs. You are welcome to come by anytime and use our walking trails along the creek and our day use picnic area. Hope to see you there.