EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

At MIDWAY , some 65km east of Osoyoos on Hwy 3, something of the desert atmosphere lingers, the hills strange, broad whalebacks cut by open valleys and covered in coarse scrub and brown-baked grass. The hamlet's handful of scattered homes are like a windblown and wistful ghost town, making an evocative backdrop for the overgrown train tracks and tiny railway museum housed alongside a rusted minuscule steam engine. It's a fascinating little spot. The Kettle River Museum (mid-May to mid-Sept daily 10am-4pm; donation) in the 1900 CPR station 3km out of the village tells the town's story. For more background, contact the infocentre on Hwy 3 (June-Sept 9am-6pm; tel 449-2614). To stay , check-in to the recently renovated Mile Zero Motel , 622 Palmerston St (tel 449-2231; $40-60), or put up a tent at the Riverfront Municipal Campground three blocks off Hwy 3 on 6th Avenue which has a washroom but no other services (free).

East out of town, the scenery along Hwy 3 begins to change from a flatter, drier landscape of bleached grass and sagebrush to rather more bland meandering hills. At GREENWOOD , however, the pines reappear, heralding a wild, battered brute of a village, which has suffered from the closure of its mines and can't muster much more than a handful of old buildings and some abandoned workings. The infocentre is housed on the main road at 214 S Copper St (May-June daily 10am-4pm; tel 445-6355) and has free Internet access. You're pretty sure of a welcome in any of the local motels , cheapest of which is the Evening Star , 798 N Government St (tel 445-6733; $40-60), at the eastern entrance to town. For camping there are a couple of small provincial park sites: Jewel Lake ($6; June-Sept), 12km east of Greenwood off Hwy 3; and Boundary Creek ($9.50; April-Oct), just west of town off Hwy 3.

GRAND FORKS is not grand at all - it's very small and very dull and little more than a perfunctory transit settlement built on a river flat. Several Greyhound buses drop in daily, probably the biggest thing to happen to the place, stopping at Stanley's , which is the spot for sustenance unless you shop at the big Overwaitea supermarket alongside. The small Boundary Museum (Sept-June Mon-Fri 9am-4.30pm; July-Aug Mon-Fri 9am-4.30pm, Sat & Sun 10am-4pm; $2) by the traffic lights is the standard small-town model and can be seen in about the time it takes for the lights to change. The infocentre is next door (Sept-May Mon-Fri 8.30am-4.30pm; June-Aug Mon-Fri 8.30am-4.30pm, Sat & Sun 9am-5pm; tel 442-2833, www.boundary.bc.ca ). The history of Doukhobor settlers is charted at the small Mountainview Doukhobor Museum (June-Aug daily 9am-6pm; $2). Just north of town, Christina Lake - which claims BC's warmest water - is a modestly unspoilt summer resort with lots of swimming, boating and camping opportunities (two other BC lakes make similar claims for their waters). A dozen or so motels and campsites sprout along its shore, with about the same number in and around the town itself, but it's doubtful that you'd want to use them except in an emergency. For information on the area, contact the Chamber of Commerce on Hwy 3 (tel 447-6161).