Smithers sits in the middle of the Bulkley Valley, with Hudson Bay Mountain on one side and the Babine Range on the other. That geography is why the hiking here covers so much ground: you can walk a river flat in the morning and stand on a glacier moraine by mid-afternoon without driving more than twenty minutes from Main Street.
The best-known routes start close to town. Glacier Gulch climbs steeply to a viewpoint below the Kathlyn Glacier, and Twin Falls at its base is short enough for almost anyone. Round the Mountain traverses the alpine on Hudson Bay Mountain once the snow clears, usually from mid-July. For flatter ground, Crater Lake and the Perimeter Trail stay walkable through most of the season, and the Duthie network above town is the local mountain biking.
Several fishing lakes sit within reach, including Morin, Dennis, Hankin and Aldrich. Every route below lists its real distance and elevation gain, taken from recorded GPS tracks rather than estimates, so you can judge a trail before you drive to the trailhead.