Mission Creek Regional Park, Kelowna, BC

Tuesday April 9, 2024 -- Just a stroll around the Mission Creek Regional Park (92 hectares) like I used to do in the old days, visiting Turtle Pond with the kids. I walked with a friend and we left the park at Hall Road, walking along some paved roads until we got back to the Mission Creek Greenway (6 km in all), where we returned to the parking lot and the "Robert Hobson Environmental Education Center" where we had a look at a display of the typical wild animals found in the region (and a display of their "scat" and how to recognize who pooped where!)

Crossing Mission Creek at the Springfield Road Parking Lot

Here at the creek you can watch the salmon spawning in September. A stairway takes you up into the forested park area. 

A map of the Mission Creek Park. We started at the North side parking, walked south through the forest, and left the park near the pond on the south side. We walked through the residential area, and rejoined the creek, to follow the Mission Creek Greenway back to the parking lot.

At Turtle Pond, we actually saw turtles!

It's hard to see, but there are four turtles on this log

We saw no birds, but this Island (Evelyn Island) in Turtle Pond is a good place to observe many birds including Kingfishers!

Looking at the pond while standing on Evelyn Island in the center of the pond. 

Most of the trails in this park look like this. 

On the eastern edge of the park is this large pond, next to a long term care facility. Here is where we left the pond and walked along the paved road. 

It would have been fun to see some turtles crossing the road here!

Some of the houses in the Hall Road area where we left the park

Having reached the river again, we head back along the wide Greenway to the parking lot. 

It was a 6-km loop hike we did around the Mission Creek Park area. We started at 10 a.m., and returned to the car park at noon. 

This is the Robert Hobson Environmental Education Center at the entrance to the park (photo is from the Regional District Website)

We had a quick look in the center, where various taxidermized wild animals found in the region are displayed.

This fun display shows you how to recognize which animals leave which droppings behind!