British Columbia · Remote access
Pitt River Hot Springs
The upper Pitt River contains a documented hot-spring source in a mountain watershed north of the Lower Mainland. A research coordinate identifies the system without establishing a practical visitor route.
Historical source coordinate; not a trailhead. Accuracy and datum have not been independently verified. Historical water readings describe source samples, not safe soaking temperatures.
A boat, then 20 km of logging road, then a rope
Pitt River is one of the more involved day trips in southwestern British Columbia. The usual approach is a boat ride of around 45 minutes to the dock at the north end of Pitt Lake, then just over 20 kilometres of flat logging road by bike or quad, then a five-minute walk finishing with a steep rope-assisted descent to the pools.
That rope is worth taking seriously. It is the last obstacle, it is steep, and it is not somewhere to be improvising at the end of a long day.
Or paddle it, carefully
Canoeing the lake instead of taking a motorboat is possible but substantial: around 28 kilometres and six to eight hours. The important local detail is that you must keep to the far right outside edge of the lake for the first eight kilometres, because that section is extremely shallow and partly exposed at lower tides.
Pitt Lake is tidal, which is unusual for a lake and catches out paddlers who plan it like still water.
Three pools, and a camping rule
There are three hot pools at the site, fed by a river system that begins in the Garibaldi Ranges of the Coast Mountains — the Pitt is a major tributary of the Fraser, with sections above and below Pitt Lake.
Camping is permitted, but keep a respectful distance of at least 100 metres from the springs. Given the effort involved in getting here, most visitors stay overnight rather than turning straight around.
Opening hours & season
No verified visitor timetable
Access depends on land-manager permission, closures and local conditions. No published timetable should be interpreted as 24-hour access.
All times are local to the spring. Checked 2026-10-01; this is not a live opening-status display. Closure notices override regular hours.
Our take
The proximity to a major metropolitan region can be misleading. Treat this as remote-access terrain and verify all land permissions, river conditions and logistics.
Editorial assessment based on published information. No firsthand visit or customer score is implied.
Before you go
Sources & record notes
Geoscience BC’s 2016 compilation · 1 historical sampling record · Source name: Pitt River. References recorded in the dataset: Souther 1976.
Sources used for this guide
- ClubTread — Pitt River Hot Springs route
- 604 Now — Pitt River Hot Springs
- Hot Springs of BC — Pitt River Hot Springs
- Wikipedia — Garibaldi Provincial Park and the Garibaldi Ranges
Written from the published sources above. Operator hours, access rules and closures change; the official link is authoritative.