Life in the Okanagan’s shadow isn’t always easy. The Similkameen Country, an isolated and starkly beautiful river valley tucked between the Cascade Range and the Osoyoos desert, has long been little more than a pit stop for travellers bound for the lakes and vineyards of interior British Columbia-a place to gas up the car, stock up on peaches at dusty roadside fruit stands and then blast on through to better-known destinations. But wineries have proliferated in the last decade, with top vintners attracted by the cheap land, spectacular setting and uniquely arid climate (Master of Wine Rhys Pender recently chose the area to start his first grape-growing adventure). With grapes has come the first generation of progressive restaurants and B&Bs, keen to highlight the valley’s deep green roots and wide-open spaces. Lodging still skews to what is euphemistically called "homey" and nightlife...well if that’s your thing you’d best look elsewhere. Still this place of steep cliffs and flat valleys feels poised to be the next big thing.

Fruit Reconsidered
"When I was a conventional grower, anywhere from nine to 15 pesticides would have been put on a pear like this," says 61-year-old Bruce Harker, owner of Harker’s Organics (2238 Hwy 3, Cawston, 250-499-2751, harkers
organics.com). Like many of his neighbours in Cawston, the "Organic Capital of Canada," Harker ditched the chemicals decades ago. His 30-acre farm is a great stop for a gentle primer on organics and a basketful of pears, peaches and specialty produce like organic rhubarb. The Harkers started the on-site Rustic Roots Winery (rustic
rootswinery.com) in 2008, turning a portion of the harvest into award-winning organic fruit wines. Try the signature Iced Orin dessert wine, billed as "apple pie in a glass."

Onto the Grapes
Expect no tour buses or fanny-pack-wearing throngs outside Orofino Winery (2152 Barcelo Rd., Cawston, 250-499-0068, orofinovineyards.com), a six-acre boutique operation in Cawston. Former high-school phys-ed teacher John Weber built the winery in 2004 on a shoestring, forming the walls out of 890 straw bales-an ecologically and financially sound move. These days, he supplies his trademark riesling and big bold reds to some of Vancouver’s better restaurants, including Hawksworth in the Rosewood Hotel Georgia. Nearby, Seven Stones Winery (1143 Hwy. 3, Cawston, 250-499-2144, sevenstones.ca) sits on a bluff overlooking Technicolor-green ranchland and the craggy peaks of the Cascades. Its 2009 Row 128 Merlot just snagged Best of Varietal honours at this year’s Spring Okanagan Wine Festival, beating out the big boys on their home turf.

Digging into History
In its heyday, Mascot Gold Mine (161 Snaza’ist Dr., Hedley, 888-799-8733, mascotmine.com)-carved into a cliff more than 1,000 metres above the sleepy Similkameen town of Hedley-was among the richest gold claims in North America. Today it may be the most spectacular historical site in Canada you’ve never heard of. Visitors drive along switchbacks up the original vertigo-inducing mining road, then scamper down 589 wooden steps anchored into the cliffside, peering into nearly century-old bunkhouses and workshops and admiring the panoramic, knee-weakening view of the valley below.

Beyond Country Kitchens
Built in 1903, the Hitching Post Restaurant in Hedley (916 Scott Ave., Hedley, 250-292-8413, hitchingpostrestaurant.ca) once housed a raucous dance hall and mining supply store. Now Wilson Wiley-who cut his teeth washing dishes at Vancouver’s famed Hermitage Restaurant-serves a menu that is anything but Wild West: think duck confit and halibut with beurre noisette. For dinner with a view make the long trek to Jellicoe Station Inn (3462 Princeton Summerland Hwy., Princeton, 250-295-0160, jellicoestationinnresortbandb.com), 40 kilometres into the bear-filled boonies between Princeton and Summerland. Call ahead and innkeeper Darleen Sirokai (a retired interior decorator with a fondness for cherubs and animal hides) will prepare an extravagant spread of steaks and chops, seasonal vegetables and home-baked pie, served on the patio of her mountain home for a mere $25 a person.

Bedding Down
Leave the Blackberry behind and step back a hundred years or so into the 1907 guest cottage at Old Tower Farm in Keremeos (2649 Middle Bench Rd., Keremeos, 250-499-5654, oldtowerfarm
.com), situated smack dab in the middle of an eight-acre working apple orchard. Hardly larger than a Yaletown one-bedroom, the prim cottage comes stocked with freshly baked bread, bacon and eggs and other refreshingly retro, farm-fresh products. To reach the sky-high Cathedral Lakes Lodge (Cathedral Provincial Park, 888-255-4453, cathedrallakes.ca)-which, at 2,000 metres above sea level, claims to be the highest full-service wilderness lodge in the country-guests climb aboard a special four-by-four Unimog for a harrowing, hour-long ascent into the mountainous heart of Cathedral Provincial Park outside Keremeos. The reward? A plush and utterly isolated retreat surrounded by turquoise glacial lakes, fiery fields of wildflowers and incredible hiking trails. wl