The scenic route winds eastward, through parallel mountain walls and valleys, past the crest of the Canadian Rockies on the province's southeastern boundary. Variety is the key to Canada's third largest province. In the capital city of Victoria a tourist can have afternoon tea at the stately Empress Hotel or view the world's tallest totem pole in Beacon Hill Park. Water sports, particularly boating, are popular along the western coast where a protective chain of islands creates a sheltered waterway. Five national parks and more than 300 provincial parks offer an assortment of terrains.
Recreational activities vary from sport fishing to big-game hunting.
Large tracts of the timber-laden slopes covering more than half of the province contribute wealth in the forms of lumber and its products. Dams on swiftly flowing rivers provide electricity for home and industry. On rivers flowing into the Pacific, fish ladders alongside dams allow salmon to swim upstream at spawning time and permit their young to return to the sea. Large areas are rich in minerals copper, coal, gold, lead, molybdenum, silver, and zinc. Refineries near Vancouver process crude oil from Alberta, as well as from British Columbia itself.