British Columbia: Pitt Lake Hot Springs (2 days / 98 km)

Pitt Lake Hot Springs is a secluded and little-known oasis past the north end of Pitt Lake. The lake has many summer cabins with a few year-round residents along the shoreline. After completing the paddle of this tidal lake, you will get on your bike with your camping gear and head to the hot springs. The mountains are breathtaking as they dive into the water and the water is a stunning blue colour, especially by the hot springs! Come prepared for all types of weather even if the forecast doesn’t call for it. We expected light rain on our second day, which turned out to be heavy rain and a thunderstorm. Surprise!

Trip Completed: June 2021

Trip Summary

Total Distance: 98 km round trip — kayaking 27 km from boat launch to the northern tip of the lake, 44 km biking on a forest service road (22 km there, 22 km back) then kayaking back 27 km.

Location: The western shore is within Pinecone Burke Provincial Park while the eastern shore is within Golden Ears Provincial Park, Pitt Meadows/Maple Ridge, BC.

Traditional Territory: This route takes place on the traditional territory of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm , sq̓əc̓iy̓aɁɬ təməxʷ (Katzie) , S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), sc̓əwaθenaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsawwassen) , Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla (source).

Maps & Resources

Guidebook: ClubTread.com – Pitt River Hot Springs

Videos: We also watched these two YouTube videos:

Maps:

Permits & Reservations

Campsite Reservations: Campsites are first come first serve.

Permits: No permits were required, however access to Pitt Lake Boat Launch has changed multiple times since our trip. It has also changed ownership, please be aware that parking fees and/or access may differ since this was posted.

Know Before You Go

Season: We went in June, which normally would be fine. However, we experienced a week of 30 degrees leading up to our trip which meant the water in the river was high and therefore the hot springs were flooded and overrun by the melting snow from the mountains filling up the creek/river. Going later in the summer guarantees better weather both on the water and in the hot springs.

Cell Reception: There might be cell reception in certain places at the boat launch, but no cell service after that. We brought an inReach.

Water: We brought our own, the river water is drinkable once filtered, boiled or tablet added. The lake is fresh water.

Wildlife: While paddling you can expect to see a few harbour seals in the lake as it’s not a true lake but is connected to the Fraser River which feeds into the ocean. Grizzly bears might be expected at any campsite or near the hot springs along with cougars. We didn’t encounter any on our trip. You can expect to see many different birds along your journey.

Waste: There were no outhouses at the hot springs and very limited tenting space. We didn’t have a problem since we were the only ones there on a Friday night. Pack out what you packed in. The Marine campsites along Pitt Lake (Dark, Osprey, Raven Creek) do have outhouses and space for more people.

Outfitters & Shuttles

Outfitter: Since we lived locally, we brought our canoe and gear by car and parked it at the boat launch until we returned. There is the ability to rent canoes at the boat launch, however, I’m not sure about overnight rentals, I’ve only done day rentals with them.

Shuttle: A shuttle wasn’t needed. A water taxi is available from the north end of the lake where logging takes place back to the boat launch if the weather doesn’t permit you to canoe.

Trip Report

Day 1: Pitt Lake Boat Launch to Pitt Lake Hot Springs (49 km)

Pit Lake Boat Launch: Bears are commonly seen wandering Pitt Lake Boat Launch parking lot, keep this in mind as you unload your gear. We left early on a Friday morning, knowing that the paddle would be 4-6 hours plus a 2+ hour bike ride to camp. With the transition from boat to bike, count on the day being 7-10 hours total. One thing I’m really glad we did is look ahead at the tide charts and plan our adventure for a day/time that the tide would be moving in our favour as much as possible.

Be sure to find out where the lake disappears and turns into sandbars when the tide is low. We thankfully didn’t have to avoid any of these, but if you read other online commentaries you will see others have made that mistake and needed to portage their boat across the lake bottom. Many people also practice loading their canoe before the adventure to make sure it all fits which we didn’t do. However, both us us do backpacking regularly, so if all your camping gear fits in a backpack, you will be fine.

Bring extra garbage bags to keep your gear dry in the boat because it may rain, ensure you have a bike repair kit and bungee cords to tie the bikes on top of all the camping gear and make sure you know how to remove the front tire on your bike. We got our boat all loaded and realized we had forgotten the paddles! So with a small delay as my friend drove back home to get them, we were soon on our way!

Paddling Across Pitt Lake: It was a fairly quiet day, and since we could paddle any section of the lake due to high water levels, we headed straight up on the west shoreline as that was the quickest route. The occasional harbour seal popped its head up curious about what we were up to. We glanced at the Defrauded Falls briefly before continuing on. A short while after we rounded the corner of the lake to head NorthWest, we stopped just inside a barricaded bay of logs near some private cabins to eat lunch. Not wanting to get out of the boat, we simply floated in that area while we ate our no-cooking required meal.

When done, we headed out of the sheltered area and continued on toward the north end of the lake. We completed our paddle in close to 4 hours and avoided the afternoon wind that made the lake far more choppy and difficult to navigate. Upon arriving at the dock, we spoke with a few of the loggers heading into town for the weekend who told us that due to the hot weather the week prior, the hot springs were flooded. We brought our canoe onto the dock in an area we thought might be a good place to store it for the night, assembled our bikes and were on our way.

Backpacking to the Campsite: Neither of us are bikers and don’t have the bags on the wheels to store equipment, so both of us simply wore our backpacking packs as we rode along. The Forest Service Road is very well maintained and is flat until the last portion, however after a short time no matter how much padding your bike seat has it will get uncomfortable. I chose to stand for the last 15-20 min of our bike ride as it was more comfortable to balance the load and ride that way.

The road will pass by a few houses and properties, including a plant/mill. There is really only one place where the road branches off and you need to pick which direction to go (go left). After you go down a hill and cross the bridge, the hot springs will be on the other side on a small trail on your right side. It wasn’t labelled or marked however once you’re on the trail there will be a sign in the forest indicating you are in the right place. The hot springs are only a couple hundred metres off the road.

Campsite: We locked up our bikes just off the gravel road and found a small spot to place our tent in the woods near the falls. We were the only ones there, and there really were only two spots to pitch a tent in the forest. We then saw that indeed the hot springs were flooded and because we were so tired neither of us made an attempt to rappel down to them and get in. After dinner, we called it a night as it had been a long day.

Total Distance	49 km
Elevation Gain	125 m
Campsite Reservation	None

Day 2: Pitt Lake Hot Springs to Pitt Lake Boat Launch (49 km)

Biking to Pitt Lake: After getting a good night’s rest, we woke up, packed up our gear and headed back on our bikes. My legs were fairly sore, probably due to standing and peddling for part of the time the day prior. We got to the lake and because it had been raining as we rode my back was covered in mud. After loading our bikes into the canoe, we got onto the water. It was much later in the day since biking came first, and we knew that we would be fighting the tide for at least part of the paddle and we would be going against the wind and waves. This was evident right from the start. The waves were high but not enough to swamp our boat so we kept going.

My friend found a piece of driftwood for her front yard and that’s when we heard it. Boom! It was far away, but there was thunder; not something either of us had seen or read in the weather forecast. It was far away, so we kept going since there wasn’t a good place to pull onto shore. The east side has far fewer cabins than the west shore and this is the side we were on. The thunder continued, and it sounded like it was moving away from us but we were paddling towards it at a slower rate than the storm.

We reached the eastern corner of the lake giving us a view down the long section to where we had launched the day prior. With the thunder persisting, we opted to get out at a nice little beach with some cabins and wait out the rain and the storm. After about 30 min to an hour, the rain subsided and the thunder continued to move away from us. We had given ourselves a third day just in case we were too tired to continue, but at this point, I was soaked and was willing to try to make it back to our car rather than camp at Osprey.

So we climbed back in and continued on, staying close to shore and watching the rain cloud move down the lake ahead of us. Seeing the weather patterns developing was one of the coolest experiences for me. The wind died down for a bit and paddling in the calmer water was nice. It was at this point that I was very glad that I had trained by going for longer paddles in the weeks leading up to the trip.

Eventually, we decided to take another short break by pulling up to the docks at Williams Landing by one of the two permanent islands. A few minutes later, a very friendly gentleman introduced himself as being one of the lake’s year-round residents and offered to let us use his restroom at the bottom end of his property which we gladly accepted.

From Williams landing back to the boat launch was definitely the most mentally challenging leg of the journey to keep going when all my muscles were telling me to stop. Since it was a Saturday, the motorboat traffic increased as we came closer to the boat launch.

We eventually made it back to our car and went out for dinner to celebrate a successful journey!

Total Distance	49 km
Elevation Gain	-125 m
Campsite Reservation	N/A

Reflections

Planning to paddle with the tides in working with us was a major win. Forgetting the paddles and not having entirely waterproof clothing made the trip more difficult than it needed to be. But no adventure is complete without these mishaps and I have since updated my wardrobe.

Be prepared for rainy weather even if the forecast doesn’t call for it. It’s always sunny at the boat launch even if it’s raining at the far end of the lake as the clouds get caught in the mountains and dump their contents. Get the best bike seat and shocks on your bike for the road. Be prepared to have very sore shoulders even if you’ve trained for the trip and break it into 3 days if necessary.

The parking lot gate at Pitt Lake Boat Launch is locked at sunset, plan accordingly based on the time of year you decide to complete this adventure.

The scenery is beautiful and will take your breath away, it’s the best BC has to offer!

Author Bio

Lorena is an outdoor enthusiast and former facilitator for Omada Teambuilding. When she isn’t hiking, kayaking or spelunking (caving), you can find her skating, reading or working at her day job.

Book: Skate Shovel Scoop: A Hockey Season with a Professional Ice Crew by Lorena Matzek