Discover the land
Place. Nature. Story.
Every stay helps shape this next chapter of the King George Hotel, through the experiences and memories you create here.
The partners featured below play an active role in caring for the places that make this region so beautiful to experience and compelling to explore. Through stewardship, education, and long-term commitment, they help protect the forests, waters, and communities that shape life in the Comox Valley — ensuring these landscapes remain pristine, and ecosystems vibrant for generations to come.
Experiences for every adventurer
The next chapter of the King George Hotel is shaped by the experiences and stories you create here.
Hiking Paths through Place
Centered around Cumberland is one of Vancouver Island’s most extensive trail systems, with 200+ kilometres of forest trails winding through the Cumberland Community Forest. Beyond the village, a short drive in any direction opens access to coastal walks, river canyons, potholes, multi-day alpine routes, and provincial parks — offering an extraordinary range of landscapes, from old-growth forest to shoreline and high mountain terrain.
Cumberland Community Forest Society plays a central role in guiding how Cumberland grows, explores, and cares for the landscapes that surround it. Since 2000, the Society has protected and stewarded more than 500 acres of forest within the Trent and Puntledge watersheds—land that supports biodiversity, feeds Comox Lake, and forms a vital ecological corridor from the mountains to the Salish Sea.
Through long-term protection, restoration, and collaborative management, CCFS ensures these forests remain intact and accessible for low-impact recreation, even as much of the surrounding land remains privately held. Their work underpins many of the trails, outdoor experiences, and shared spaces that define life in Cumberland today.
Home Sweet Loam
Mountain Biking is responsible for Cumberland’s modern renaissance, and the trail-building culture of the Village and Cumberland Forest is truly legendary. Over 200kms of World-class biking trails are just a few blocks away.
United Riders of Cumberland (UROC) is a volunteer-driven stewardship organization responsible for building and caring for Cumberland’s trail network. Through long-term relationships with landowners and ongoing trail maintenance, UROC supports more than 200 km of trails across the surrounding forests, helping ensure responsible access while protecting the landscapes that define the community.
Dodge City Cycles is Cumberland’s original bike shop and a long-standing part of the village’s cycling culture, supporting riders with thoughtful equipment, repairs, and local knowledge shaped by years on these trails. Beyond the shop, their ongoing involvement in trail advocacy and responsible access reflects a shared commitment to caring for the forests and riding culture that define the community.
From our Backdoor to Strathcona Park
Strathcona Provincial Park offers access to Vancouver Island’s largest and most rugged wilderness, where alpine lakes, mountain ridgelines, and old-growth forests define the landscape. A short drive from Cumberland, the park provides opportunities to experience the scale, remoteness, and enduring natural systems that have shaped the island for generations.
Strathcona Wilderness Institute supports immersive outdoor education and stewardship in Strathcona Provincial Park and the surrounding region. Through place-based learning in the beautiful Beaufort mountains, the Institute helps foster understanding of Vancouver Island’s alpine ecosystems — and the responsibilities that come with spending time in wild spaces.
BC Parks protects and manages British Columbia’s provincial parks, caring for landscapes that have long shaped the province’s history, economy, and cultural identity. By balancing conservation with responsible public access, BC Parks helps ensure these places remain meaningful, resilient, and open to future generations.
Mount Washington Alpine Resort
Only a half-hour drive from the King George, Mount Washington offers snowboarding, skiing, and a chairlift-assisted downhill mountain bike park.
Mount Washington Alpine Resort plays a central role in year-round recreation in the Comox Valley. Through sustainability initiatives, long-term access agreements, and collaboration with land and community partners, the resort works to balance alpine recreation with care for the surrounding landscape and ecosystems.
Its alpine and Nordic trail networks support winter activities and transition naturally into hiking and biking routes in the warmer months, offering seasonal access to high-elevation terrain shaped by mountain weather, forest, and open alpine environments.
Swimming. Diving. Dipping.
The Comox Valley is a paddler’s Utopia, with seven rivers, lakes like Comox Lake, and the Salish Sea all within a short drive of each other. Whether kayaking, paddleboarding, or exploring nearby scuba sites, the water offers endless adventure. Swimming in the valley’s rivers and lakes is as refreshing as it is relaxing, and for saltwater lovers, the beaches of the Salish Sea provide sandy and rugged shores for swimming and sunbathing.
Comox Lake Park Society is a community-based organization dedicated to the care and long-term protection of Comox Lake and its surrounding parkland. Through advocacy, education, and collaboration with local partners, the Society works to safeguard this vital watershed and public space, helping ensure continued access to nature, recreation, and clean water for the Comox Valley.
Comox Valley Kayaks offers guided access to the region’s coastal waters, creating opportunities to experience the Comox Valley’s shorelines and marine environments in a thoughtful, low-impact way. Their work supports connection to place while encouraging care and respect for the coastal ecosystems that shape life in the valley.
Project Watershed plays a behind-the-scenes role in caring for the estuaries, rivers, and coastal systems of the Comox Valley. Through long-term restoration and monitoring, the organization helps maintain the health and function of waterways that support wildlife, recreation, and access to the Salish Sea — shaping the coastal environments guests experience throughout the region.
Waters Worth Waiting for
Fishing in the Comox Valley reflects a long relationship between people and water, shaped by seasonal runs, freshwater systems, and coastal access. It’s a practice defined by patience and awareness, offering a quiet way to connect with the landscapes and waters that have sustained the region over time.
Tsolum River Restoration Society supports the recovery and long-term health of salmon-bearing waters in the Comox Valley. Through habitat restoration and watershed stewardship, the Society helps rebuild the freshwater systems that sustain local fisheries and connect inland rivers to the coastal environment.
Oyster River Enhancement Society works to improve fish habitat and water quality within the Oyster River watershed. Their long-standing stewardship supports the freshwater systems that feed coastal fisheries and contribute to the ecological balance of the surrounding marine environment.
Life Along the Salish Sea
Whale watching in the Salish Sea offers an encounter with a vast and living marine ecosystem, where open water, shoreline, and sky come together in constant motion. These waters have sustained coastal communities since time immemorial, and encounters with whales, eagles, seals, and porpoises reveal both the beauty and enduring vitality of a seascape shaped by life, migration, and deep connection to place.
Homalco Wildlife & Cultural Tours offers guided whale watching experiences grounded in respect for marine ecosystems and the coastal waters of Homalco territory. As a First Nation–owned and operated organization, their work reflects a long-standing relationship with the land and sea, providing thoughtful access to wildlife encounters shaped by care, knowledge, and community connection.
Aboriginal Journeys provides whale watching experiences that emphasize respectful observation and a deeper understanding of the marine environment. Indigenous-owned and locally rooted, their approach centres on ethical wildlife viewing and a strong sense of place, offering encounters shaped by experience, stewardship, and long-standing ties to the coast.
Endurance & Terrain
Across the Comox Valley, the landscape is regularly tested by organized endurance events — trail runs, mountain bike races, triathlons, and multi-discipline competitions that move through forests, roads, and waterways. Some courses begin in late-season snow on Mount Washington and finish at the tide line—an unusual span that can take athletes from alpine cold to Pacific water in a single day. For much of the year, the routes remain open and accessible, used daily by those who train, commute, and move through this place at a slower pace.
Rooted in Cumberland, MOMAR is defined by constant reinvention — its course shifting year to year across forest, mountain, and water, shaped as much by conditions as by design.
Snow to Surf is a rare point-to-point relay that begins in alpine snow and finishes in Pacific water, tracing the full vertical and geographic span of the Comox Valley in a single day.
A multi-day stage race that draws an international field, the BC Bike Race passes through the Comox Valley because its trail systems can support sustained, technical riding at the highest level.
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