Weekend Camping Trips from Vancouver #2: Birkenhead Lake

This is the second in a series of posts on weekend camping trips you can take from Vancouver. All the camping trips listed will be to sites within a day's drive of the city, and all will be at provincial campgrounds. If there's a particular site you'd like reviewed, please reply with a comment to this post!

Birkenhead Lake is 90 km north of Whistler, which makes it about about a four-hour drive from Vancouver. A noon-time departure from the city gets you into camp just in time to set up the tent and your dinner supplies before getting to work with the camp stove, so if you're trying to cram as much camping as you can into a short trip, Birkenhead is a good bet.

Birkenhead is a lovely lake, although the water is very chilly. If you're brave, you might venture a swim, but for me, a quick dip was the extent of my tolerance. There are no shower facilities at Birkenhead Lake, so the lake is your only option for getting clean... (There are no flush toilets either, but the outhouses are in good shape.)

The campsites are nice and private, and nestled in the trees. Several campsites back right on to a river that leads into the lake. (In fact, one campsite has been closed since the river was consistently taking it over!)

When I was there, the lake was flooded, so there was no beach. We took to lying on picnic tables to sun ourselves. Even getting to the picnic tables involved wading through several inches of water. Since the whole camp was generally flooded, there were more bugs than normal, but a mosquito coil or two kept them at bay.

So far this doesn't sound like it was a great trip, but really it was. The lake was lovely, the weather was spectacular, and there is also a very nice easy hike on a lakeside trail.

There are wilderness campsites at the end of the trail -- about a 40-minute walk -- if you feel like having a more rugged camping experience. The picture on the right is taken from the wilderness campsite area.

This summer, a new water system is being installed at Birkenhead Lake, so it may be noisier than usual, although the web site says they are trying to avoid work on weekends.

You can find out more about Birkenhead Lake, or make camping reservations, here.

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[ READER COMMENTS ]

1

cindy said:

This is one of our favourite camping locations in BC. The beach is perfect for those with young children; our kids were engrossed by beach adventures for three full days! In addition, a portion of the beach is set aside for those campers with dogs. It was exceptionally warm the week we ere there so the water did not feel at all cold to us. This one is a winner!

Posted at 11:22 AM, on March 29 2009

Weekend Camping Trips from Vancouver #2: Birkenhead Lake

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