Camping at Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park

Quick Facts:

• BC Provincial Parks website: https://bcparks.ca/birkenhead-lake-park/
• Access to water: easy walk of about 200–500 m to the lakeshore
• Facilities: rustic, with pit toilets, drinking water and garbage collection, but no showers
• Activities: water sports, sandy beach, hiking and fishing
• Beach type: sandy beach with plenty of shallow water for wading and play
• No cell reception
• About 15 km of well-maintained gravel road with a few small, avoidable potholes
• Outdoor Fam rating: 7 out of 10

Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park was the last provincial campground within about a 3.5-hour drive of Vancouver that we still hadn’t visited. When the opportunity came up, we booked a two-night stay in early August to explore this hidden gem tucked away about 1.5 hours north of Whistler and one hour north of Pemberton.

Getting to Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park

The drive in was pleasant. The hardest part was slogging through traffic around Britannia Beach and Whistler. We had some concerns about the roughly 15 km of dirt and gravel road before the campground. I even checked to make sure we had a spare tire in good condition and the tools for a roadside tire change. But a recent report from a fellow camper about the good road conditions quickly put my mind at ease.

We saw a small sedan make it up the road with no problem. In fact, a camper trailer towed by an SUV ripped through the gravel road like it was nothing. We drove more carefully to avoid the few potholes and couldn’t even keep up with the RV. A carefully driven two-wheel-drive city car could most likely make the trip without much trouble.

Cell reception disappeared pretty soon after Pemberton, but the drive was peaceful and pleasant. Unlike the roads to Chilliwack Lake or Silver Lake, there were no makeshift camps or piles of garbage along the roadside. Just well-kept farms and private properties with lots of “No Hunting” signs.

The Campground

The reports that Birkenhead Lake Campground can be buggy were accurate. Several streams flow through the campground, creating plenty of damp and marshy areas. We even had several skunk cabbages growing right at our campsite, which gives you a pretty good idea of how wet the ground can be.

Mosquitoes weren’t the main issue. They only showed up in small numbers around dusk and dawn. The black flies, on the other hand, were a constant nuisance. They seemed to ignore our Thermacell and DEEP sprays.

The campsites were large and nicely spaced apart, offering good privacy. The ground was the standard provincial park gravel pad. Our fire ring had a fire-ban sign on it.

We arrived at the campground in the evening and set up camp. Baby Bro had been itching to go camping and couldn’t stop talking about it at daycare. Big Bro was entrusted with a new responsibility: hammering in the tent stakes with an axe. Middle Bro was in charge of pumping up the sleeping pads.

Once the tent was up, the kids couldn’t wait any longer for a bike ride, so we all rode down to check out the reason we had made the 3.5-hour trek: Birkenhead Lake.

Birkenhead Lake is a narrow lake about 6 km long and only around 800 m wide, with the campground sitting at its northern end. The lake was gorgeous. Surrounded by mountains, the view down the lake was framed by layers of slopes in different hues of blue, with snow-capped Mount Ronayne forming the focal point in the distance. By then it was around 7:30 p.m., and we basically had the beach and lake to ourselves.

We lingered for a while before riding back to camp to fire up some food.

I hatched a plan for an early-morning paddle the next day, so I pumped up the paddleboard too.

The next day’s itinerary included the usual campsite fun: more biking around the campground, camp cooking, card games and a hike up Goat Lookout Trail.

Hiking Goat Lookout Trail

On paper, Goat Lookout Trail looks like what I call a “nothing burger.” It’s merely an 850 m hike each way with about 180 m of elevation gain to the lookout. How hard could it be?

But don’t underestimate it. It’s a moderately difficult hike with some fairly steep sections of loose rock and dirt. Sturdy shoes are definitely a good idea, and some basic fitness helps.

The first 100 m or so was flat and crossed a very interesting footbridge built on top of a fallen log partially submerged in Philex Creek. Eventually the water will rot the log away and a new bridge will have to be built. We liked this bridge so much that we visited it two more times: once before bedtime and once before we left camp.

After the bridge, the hike started in earnest. The boys tackled the climb exceptionally well, including our four-year-old Baby Bro.

After about 20 minutes of continuous uphill hiking, we reached the lookout. The view of the lake was partly obstructed by trees, but getting there still felt like an accomplishment. We stopped for some snacks but had to get moving again soon after the black flies found us.

The descent over loose dirt and rock was a little scary for Baby Bro, so I ended up carrying him on my back. We reminisced about years past when we would bring backpack carriers for Big Bro and Middle Bro. The contrast was amusing.

Birkenhead Lake Beach, Swimming and Paddling

In the afternoon, we brought the kids down to Birkenhead Lake beach to play in the water. We noticed that the black flies didn’t seem to like flying over the water, so we finally got a bit of a reprieve from their constant harassment.

I went for a good 800 m open-water swim while the kids played in nature’s wading pool. The water near shore was surprisingly pleasant and warm, but the temperature dropped dramatically once I swam farther out. For me, a swimming wetsuit was definitely the right call for spending any significant amount of time swimming away from shore.

How Long Should You Stay at Birkenhead Lake?

A two-night stay at Birkenhead Lake was just the right amount of time for us to do everything we wanted: some paddling, some swimming, a hike and plenty of general camping goodness.

If we stayed much longer, we would probably need to resupply in Pemberton, which is about an hour’s drive away. Adding another trip up and down the gravel road would be more effort than it was worth for us. For a short family camping trip, two nights at Birkenhead Lake hit the sweet spot. One can easily extend the trip by tagging on a stay in Pemberton or Whistler before returning to Vancouver.