Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia - August 2025

Isaac wanted to stay on a lake in Canada. I originally thought Banff and the other Canadian Rocky Mountain National parks would be perfect, until I realized how expensive it would be to actually stay right on a lake there. So as much as I look forward to eventually visiting Banff, that trip will be saved for a couple's vacation at another time.

I found Harrison Hot Springs literally by looking at a google map, finding a lake, and then researching the town. It is about an hour east of Vancouver, sits on Harrison Lake in the Fraser Valley, surrounded by the Cascade Mountains. We booked two rooms, and Matthew, Isaac and his girlfriend and I had planned a 4-day long weekend to the lake town.

We had originally planned to fly into Vancouver, but flights were extremely expensive, so we booked into Seattle, rented a car and drove to Harrison Hot Springs. Doing so added a couple hours of drive time but saved us almost $1500 on flights.

About two weeks prior to our vacation, Isaac and his girlfriend decided not to come due to a pretty serious surgery her mother had scheduled at the same time we'd be gone. So, it ended up just being Matthew and me, which was fine by us!

Day 1: Travel Day

We had a morning flight and were in the air by 9:30am, gaining 2 hours with the time difference.

We landed in Seattle before noon and grabbed our car to start the drive north toward Canada. The drive was relatively uneventful. We stopped to eat at a Red Robin on the way. You could see the Cascade Mountains to the east, but there wasn't anything close enough to stop and enjoy. We stopped a couple times to stretch our legs.

GPS took us on a ton of backroads when we got closer to the border, and the border patrol crossing point was very slow, taking at least 45 minutes to get through. Our 3.25-hour drive from Seattle ended up taking us close to 5.5 hours with our stops and delays. We checked into our hotel at 5:30pm.

I had a room booked at The Harrison Grand Motel. It is right across the street from the lake. The accommodations were very small, but we enjoyed the location immensely and with what little time we spent in our room, it was perfect. The bed leaned slightly at the head, so it wasn't the most comfortable stay. The managers at the property were very friendly and eager to help with anything we may have needed.

I will note, there is a small ice cream bar right next to the hotel. It may be affiliated, but I can't say so for sure. We never tried the ice cream here, and I highly recommend avoiding it. While sitting outside during our stay, we watched the gentleman working in the ice cream shop walk into the restroom wearing gloves. The same disposable gloves he was wearing when we walked from The Ice Cream Bar. He then came out of the restroom, still wearing the gloves and walked back to The Ice Cream Bar. It was enough to make us not consider getting anything from them during our stay.

Once we checked in and dropped our luggage, we walked to the lake and admired the views. It was around 6pm at this time and the beach was extremely busy. We walked for a short time and then went to find dinner.

The main road in Harrison Hot Springs has many restaurants to choose from. I have been on a wheat free diet for a couple of months now, but we had no problem finding items at all of the restaurants, so it wasn't an issue at all.

Our first dinner was at a German Restaurant called Black Forest Restaurant. The food and service were both amazing. We each ordered a schnitzel (which we've never tried before) and sat outside enjoying the pleasant weather.

After dinner we walked down the main street to check out where the trails we had planned to hike the next day began. We found the beginning and then turned around, spent a few minutes admiring the sunset over the lake, then went back to our room for the night. We were both exhausted from our long travel day.

Day 2: Harrison Hot Springs

Because we had a relatively early night the evening before, and we are used to a 2-hour time difference, we woke very early. Harrison Hot Springs sleeps in! The street were empty and everything was closed.

The earliest we could get coffee was 7am, and there were only two options at this time. One was a restaurant and one a small coffee shop within Harrison Hot Springs Resort. We went to the coffee shop, called Miss Margaret's. We both ordered a coffee, and Matthew had a breakfast sandwich.

Harrison Hot Springs Resort is at the far end of the main street. After their parking lot, the walking trail starts. Our plan was to take the Sandy Cove trail to Sandy Cove beach. You follow a gravel path along the lake which brings you to the hot spring source. You can't go in the hot springs here, because the temperatures vary and can reach dangerously high temperatures. However, you can see in a building filled with steam, which is where they pipe it into a community pool in the town from.

There was a broken pipe which was in the process of being repaired when we visited. This resulted in hot spring water to be pooling pretty significantly, and we did walk by a woman lying in the hot springs.

The trail to Sandy Cove is extremely hard to see but is just past the hot spring source. The start of the trail is basically a bunch of switchbacks up the side of a hill; with the only trail marker we saw on a tree around 15 feet up the hill. The trail is very rocky with a ton of roots. The beginning was a little strenuous, but once up, it levels off and the walk is pretty enjoyable. We didn't see a single other person on this trail.

It was beautiful, with dense forest growing on top of rocky cliffs on one side, and peaks of the lake on the other. There were ferns covering the ground and moss on the ground, trees and rocks. You don't have the best views of the lake from the trail, but there are several areas that you can walk to, and the clearing is enough to see it.

There is also a wastewater treatment that you can look down and see right from this trail. It was weird to have the treatment basically right on the lake like that.

Once the elevation starts to decline, the trail splits. There are no trail markers, but if you continue straight and slightly left, you continue on to Whippoorwill Point. If you go right, you end up at Sandy Cove Beach. Or at least I think we ended up at Sandy Cove Beach. We guessed at whether or not to go right based on the direction of the lake, but again there is absolutely no sign markers.

We made it to a beach regardless. It was a small sandy beach with dense forest completely surrounding it. We sat here for quite a while, enjoying the peaceful views. We were the only people here, though there were a couple of kayakers floating nearby in the water, and another couple did come to the beach just before we left.

We walked in the water - it was so cold. The water temperature was only around 60 degrees when we looked it up.

We walked back to the trail and talked about doing the Whippoorwill Point trail as well but decided to head back because there were other trails we wanted to do yet this day.

The incline back up to the trail was worse going back, because it wasn't switchbacks, just straight up. It isn't terribly far but you can definitely feel a burn in your legs and lungs on the way up.

When we passed the hot spring again, our curiosity got the best of us, and we stopped to touch the water. We didn't go in like the lady we saw lying in it, but we dipped our hands in. It wasn't unbearably hot to the point it burned us, but it was definitely warmer than would be comfortable sitting in.

Our second trail of the day was Miami Bridges Trail. The map we had showed that we could start this at the Qwolts Park, which was on our way back into town. The trail is behind the Harrison Hot Springs Resort. When we arrived at the Qwolts Park everything was blocked off. So, we walked back past the Harrison Hot Springs Resort and walked around to the back of it. We could not find any trail, or even anywhere that a trail would make sense.

I pulled up my phone and mapped it to the trailhead. GPS took us to an RV Park. It said it was private, but we decided to walk in and see if we could find the trail anyway. I was going to stop at the office and ask them, but it was closed, so we walked around the entire RV park and found no trail. We could see a bridge in the distance, but no idea how to reach it.

We gave up on this trail and walked to the Sasquatch Museum. This is also the visitor's center. The museum has a few artifacts and a video explaining the Sasquatch Legend and where it came from as well as the history of Harrison Hot Springs.

I asked the woman working in the visitor's center if she knew how we could access Miami Bridges Trail, and she informed us it was closed due to bridge integrity. We did a little souvenir shopping and then walked back to our hotel to change our shoes. I bought new hiking shoes, which I didn't allow any time to break in, and my feet were paying for it.

We had lunch at Basecamp Burger Joint. The service here was really good. We arrived around 11:40, and they don't start service lunch until 12:00, so I ordered a coffee and we waited until we could order lunch.

After we ate, we decided to drive to Bridal Veil Falls Provincial Park and walk the Bridal Veil Falls Trail. It is only a 20-minute drive to the parking area where the trailhead is located. This area was really busy. The trail itself is an easy walk on a well-maintained gravel trail. It is all an uphill incline on the way to the falls but was not difficult.

Once you reach the viewing point you can look up at the gorgeous cascading waterfall. There are signs everywhere saying not to climb up the rocks closer to the fall, but a ton of people were, so we decided we would as well.

The climb up after the trail ended was much more strenuous. Matthew actually had to help a woman that was struggling to get her footing on the way down. The incline was extremely steep, and the rock was loose making it easy to slip. But the view of the waterfall from here was worth the climb. It was magical being so close.

After Bridal Veil Falls we drove back to Harrison Hot Springs and parked at the Spirit Trail Trailhead Parking area. Spirit Trail is located in the East Sector Lands area of Harrison Hot Spring. The trail is an easy loop, and connects to a longer Bridle Trail. We only walked Spriit Trail.

A local artist has placed clay masks and other clay figures on trees throughout the trail. It was fun spotting the different faces, insects and animals we found along the way. We counted 71 total that we found along the trail, but there is no way to know if we found them all or possibly saw any twice, accidently duplicating their count.

When Spirit Trail was completed, we drove back to our motel and put our bathing suits out. We decided to take a dip in the public mineral pool.

Matthew is not a public pool, or any pool really, person. But even he enjoyed the experience. The pool is filled with hot spring water, pumped for the hot spring we saw on our walk, and then cooled to100 degrees. The facility itself isn't anything fancy, but it only cost $16/person to use the pool.

Because of the Sulphur in the mineral water coming from the hot spring, and the higher temperature, it is recommended you soak for 10 minutes, then get out for at least 10 minutes. Sitting in the pool does make you feel a little drained. We went in twice and then decided it was enough.

Once we left the mineral pool, we walked directly across the street and jumped in the cold lake. Because it was such a significant temperature difference, we just went for it, diving under to cool off. We didn't stay in long, it was a quick dip and then out.

We went to our motel to shower, then walked to dinner at Old Settler Pub. The food here was ok, it wasn't great but not bad. The service was ok though, and we were able to sit outside again enjoying the nice evening.

We found Sasquatch on our way back to our motel and swung into Picnic Cafe for some ice cream and mochas.

Day 3: Hell's Gate and Hope

This was the day we had originally planned to drive into Vancouver. After looking at different visitor guides and maps of the area, we decided to go east instead and visit recommended areas in the Fraser Valley. Vancouver would have been a wonderful visit, but we were in nature mode and didn't want to waste a day in a big city.

We started with breakfast at Basecamp, then began our drive east toward Hell's Gate. It took us over an hour to get to Hell's Gate, with one stop at rest area in Yale.

The drive out is beautiful. You pass through several tunnels through the mountains on the highway to Boston Bar.

Hell's Gate actually refers to a narrowing on the Fraser River. It is located downstream from Boston Bar, a town we didn't make it to. You can't exit to the left off the highway, so you have to go past the tram and turn around. We didn't realize this is what GPS was having us do, or we would have turned around at a pull off, so instead we turned around at Tuckkwiowhum Heritage Village.

The Hell's Gate Air Tram takes you across the river to a little tourist spot. It is a little cheesy, but it was still fun.

You ride down into the canyon across the river. Once you get off there is a museum, gift store, restaurant, candy store and different signs with history of the area. The views of the river from here were great and you could walk a bridge across the river as well. We walked around for a bit and bought some candy and souvenirs and then took the tram back up to our car.

We stopped back in Yale at the Historic Church and Museum. The church here is the 2nd oldest in British Columbia.

Next, we made our way to Hope. Hope is a cute town with wood carvings displayed throughout.

We walked around spotting the different carvings, then went to lunch at Sharron's Deli.

The food at Sharron's Deli was really good. It was simple sandwiches and soups, but it definitely hit the spot.

After lunch we drove to the Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park. We walked the Othello Tunnels Trail. This trail was once a railway system, and you can walk through the old railway tunnels through the mountains. Unfortunately, the trail was partially closed, so we couldn't walk the full loop, but we loved this walk for the portion we were able to do.

At the start of the trail, you can walk down to the river and balance on the rocks enjoying the jagged rocks lining the water.

The first tunnel was insanely dark when you walked through. You could see, but it was long and you could see the light at the end, but not much while you were walking until you got close to the entrances.

The second tunnel was short, and open on the one side so you could peak out, with the mountainous rock on the other. It was closed off beyond this spot, so we turned around and walked back.

When we complete Othello Tunnels Trail, we drove back to Harrison Hot Springs. We walked to Milos Greek Taverna. We were seated by the open windows and had great views of the lake while we enjoyed a wonderful dinner. Our waitress was a little spacy, but the food was amazing.

We stopped at the Picnic again for ice cream. This time we chose the fresh fruit ice cream, and it was delicious!

Day 4: Harrison Hot Springs

This was our final day in Harrison Hot Springs and was also Matthew's Birthday! We were up early again, before breakfast opened, so we spent some time at the beach admiring the quiet views.

Breakfast was at Belle Vista Restaurant. The service here wasn't the best, and the food was just ok.

My plan this day was to do bumper boats at Harrison Water Sports, followed by couples' massages which were booked at 12:15pm. We arrived at Harrison Water Sports to check in for our bumper boats and were told that they don't open the bumper boats until closer to 11:30. It was only a 30-minute booking, but we didn't want to risk being late for our massages, which stated we needed to check in by 12:00, so we decided we'd come back later.

We walked around and did some shopping until it was time for our massages.

We had considered paying the extra to use the mineral pools at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort, where our massages were booked. It would have cost an additional $50/person, and the receptionist at the spa said it really wasn't worth it. We asked about the pools, and she confirmed it was the pools we passed on our walk to the spa, which were completely packed with a ton of kids. So, she talked us into saving our money.

We had 60-minute relaxing massages booked. Since I booked the couples package, we were in the same room. Both of us enjoyed the massages, Matthew even fell asleep. It was a nice treat after a pretty active couple of days.

We went straight to Harrison Watersports after our massages. Harrison Watersports offers a huge inflatable waterpark right on the lake, jet ski rentals and bumper boats. As fun as the waterpark looked, it was crazy packed, and I felt I was too old to jump around with all those kids.

We got on our bumper boats and were required to keep track of time for ourselves. There was on other family floating in the area, but basically just Matthew and I were at war. The boats didn't go very fast, but it was fun to float around and they had water guns attached that you could spray. Mine pointed basically perfectly to hit Matthew in the face every time. His shot over my head unless I was pretty far away. So, he got soaked and couldn't do anything about it!

After bumper boats we walked to Muddy Waters Cafe and ordered a coffee and then got ice cream at the Baskin Robins next door. We were struggling to find souvenirs, so we walked through all the gift shops again to get our kiddos shirts. Then we went back to our room to shower and get ready for dinner.

We had reservations at Morgans for 6pm. We took our time getting ready, and relaxed in our room for a bit, then went to eat.

Morgan's was a cute restaurant and the food was amazing. Service wasn't the greatest, but the chef made up for it. Matthew had a lamb shank, and I had a chicken dish, and we both loved our meal. We had Creme Brule for dessert as well.

We walked along the beach trail after dinner and sat to watch the sunset after dinner.

Day 5: Travel Day

Our flight wasn't until 6:30pm. We took our time packing up in the morning, and walked to Muddy Waters Cafe for coffee, but it wasn't open yet. So, we found The Green Star Cafe instead, and this was the best specialty coffee we had on this trip. We ordered Carmel Lattes and a Carmel Mocha, and it was the only time it was mixed enough to taste the caramel all week. Matthew ordered a breakfast burrito for the road as well.

We went back to our room, loaded up the car and started our drive back toward Seattle. We stopped a few times on the way to stretch our legs.

Since our flight was later, we met my niece Lexi and her boyfriend Amos for lunch. We met at 2pm at Chinook's in the Fisherman's Center in Seattle.

I hate seafood. I actually hate anything that lived in the water. But the others enjoyed their meals, and I had an ok Ceasar salad. I never got a picture of the 4 of us, which makes me really sad.

Once we finished our meal, our vacation was officially at an end. We made our way back to the airport. We were on a Sun Country flight, and this was the first time I've even been shuttled out to board my plane. Small thing, but it was kind of fun.