Meager Creek Hotsprings

May 20, 2001

This past weekend we took a trip out to Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park here in B.C. just above Pemberton. On the second day we decided to try and reach Meager Creek Hotsprings. Things have changed there, to say the least.

Here are six pictures taken in 1995. You can see the nice original cedar wall pools (gone now). The first large pool was very hot, the second one was just the right temperature.

This is the large upper pool (hot).

This is the lower pool (nice temp).

Pools by the river.

See the renovated site pictures below:

The original cedar pools are now gone. :-(

The place is very clean now though. There are three fairly large size rock pools with cement bottoms similar to Japanese bathing pools. The hot main pool is up by the new changing room and the two secondary pools are located next to the river bank. There is also a new composting toilet run by solar power.

This picture was nabbed from the site: www.npsnet.com/haynes/outdoors/meager/meager.htm For some reason I forgot to take a picture of the main pool while we were there. :-/

Pic of myself on the bridge between the parking area and the springs.

Upper river-side bathing pool (not that warm)

Lower river-side pool, perfect temp!

Pic of small stream/waterfall in lower pool.

Overnight camping in the area is not allowed. The main gate at the bottom of the Meager branch road is closed from 8pm to 8am the next morning (summer hours) so the hotsprings are now a "day use" area only. This is due to the eminent slide nature of the surrounding mountain drainages. The last slide was in 1998 and the forest service had to evacuate a few people who were stranded because the road was washed out. There is only one road into and out of Meager Creek.

View north from parking lot. Beautiful!

Lunch break!

The price one must pay to use these nicer facilities now is $5.

Unfortunately you will still run into the occasional drunk redneck/knuckle-dragger but it is overall still a great place to go. At least broken beer bottles and glass is cleaned up daily now in case some of the above mentioned idiots make a mess.

There is a temporary Forest Service Campground located another 1kms west on the main FSR road if you want to visit the hotsprings the following day and don't feel up to the rough 69km gravel road drive back to Pemberton.

The gravel road starts approximately 26kms west of Pemberton. The route is well sign-posted. Average gravel road speed in a well-equipped 4x4 vehicle is 60-100kmh depending on conditions. Please slow down for oncoming traffic to minimize rock damage to your/their vehicle. Be careful on blind corners and watch for loaded logging trucks that can hog the road during daylight hours.

It is possible to reach the hotsprings with a 2wd vehicle but you will definitely have some new rattles appear when you make it back to civilization.

If you have to follow another vehicle your air filter in your vehicle can become clogged rather quickly. Slow down to let the dust settle in dry weather.

EDIT: if you have a dirtbike (moto-cross) motorcycle Meager Creek is a good place to ride. On the last trip (2002) I rode my old 82' Kawasaki KDX-250 while my wife followed in the truck. It's all logging roads but you can get up some terrific speed. 2-stroke acceleration is always satisfying (need-for-speed). :-) Just watch out for other vehicles and make sure there's no frost on the road (yikes!) with fog like on my run.... kind of dicy. Still good fun though.