My wife and I purposely took the YCG layover option between YYC and YVR since we were not in a hurry and we've never been there (hopefully July weather will give us a good chance of our flight NOT being cancelled as it seems to be so frequently during the winter months). Our layover is around 3.5 hours during the middle of the day and we certainly don't plan to hand out in the small airport terminal the entire time.

Any suggestions for what to do in YCG without having a car? Is it possible to walk to any interesting (like the town itself) from the airport? We don't mind walking

No idea what there is to do. Looking at google maps, it shouldn't be to hard to do a loop through town.

Yeah, I saw that on Google maps...reminds me a bit of the layout in Sitka, Alaska where you could pretty much walk the entire town from the airport in 2-3 hours (includes a lunch stop...lol). The place looks beautiful....

Castlegar is drop dead gorgeous, on the banks of the Kootenay River & surrounded by steep mountains. Consequently, don't be surprised if your flight (s) are delayed due to weather/fog.

If you do get 3.5 hours, I suggest booking a cab for a sightseeing tour.

Another alternative is the Doukhobor Discovery Centre.

Well, there is a casino right at the airport
The distance to the town is not really what one would call walking distance, but IIRC there is a shuttle bus. There is a shuttle bus to Nelson too. It travels trough some beautiful scenery, however not knowing the time table I'm not sure you can make it to Nelson and back in time.
As far as the cancellations are concerned, you should be fine. I had some cancelled flights to Cancelgar, but it was in fall. July is OK.
Should you hire a cab, ask the driver to take to HWY3 towards Creston. From the turns just above the town you can take pictures of the runway that look like you're on short final.

...the other side of this coin being that the landing is a lot of fun - that is, if you're like me and enjoy sharp banks through mountain valleys!

YCG (Cancelgar)

3.5h should be plenty of time after you return to YVR to find an alternate flight to YYC.

From Google Maps, it looks like part of the town (not downtown) is just on the other side of the bridge next to the airport so that may be relatively easy to walk to.

My first choice would be to get in 9 holes of golf from one of the beautiful golf courses in the area. However- your spouse may not feel the same way.

Rossiland is a nice visit and about 30 minute drive from the airport if I recall correctly.

The airport has a nice little cafe...not a chain cafe, and the food is pretty fair. Other than that you can walk over to the casino, about a two minute walk, do some gambling and get some very nice food, and a drink if you wish. That should take care of three hours. Castlegar does not really have a downtown, everything is spread out with big box stores so not much shopping or anything to do.
Hope this helps.

Bear in mind we've nicknamed it Cancelgar for a reason, it has extremely high landing limitations due to it location.

Yeah, I've read that in other posts but July should be a good weather month I hope...

My wife is a geocacher and it looks like there is a good geocache across the street from the airport over by the Discovery Center so we may check that out....all great ideas, thanks! Now does anyone have anything "fun" to doing a 90 min. layover in Grand Prairie (YQU)????

I live in YQU and I must say first I am amazed you have any sort of layover here; mind specifying how you pulled that off? 90 mins is pretty short to do anything here though; I've lived here 8 years and I'm not sure I would even feel comfortable going to my house and back in that short of time. You could hire a cab for a 1 hour tour of town but I dare say you might be the first person ever to request that. If by some miracle your schedule made sense with mine I suppose I could run you around for an hour; I do love showing people the finer points of town but 90 mins is pushing it on the short side. If you can drink quickly there is The Shark Club downtown GP about 10-15 mins from the airport that was voted Canada's best sports bar back-to-back years in 2007 and 2008. You might have time for one beer if you keep the cabbie outside and the meter running. Failing that the Diamonds strip club is closer to the airport and you could always get a couple dances in. If you golf check out the mini golf course in Muskoseepie Park in the middle of town for a quick 18 holes and a "Screamer" a local delicacy consisting of vanilla soft serve and slush puppy mixed together. If you're hungry and I mean you should call ahead and place your order there's Better Than Fred's downtown that has amazing southern-style BBQ. Try the Jar-B-Cue served in a mason jar. Well those are my best suggestions but if you have 90 mins between arrival and departure that gives you about 45 mins to actually do anything as all of those options are 10-ish mins each way by cab and you want to be back at least 20 mins before the flight. Good luck!

I immensely enjoy the approach and landing in YCG. That's one of the reasons why I'm flying there instead of YXC on my way to Creston.