Widgeon Falls
A day of paddling, hiking, and swimming.
CANADA
It isn't often that you are able to paddle across a river, hike to a fall, and have a refreshing swim, all in a short day trip. But the Widgeon Falls hike allows you to finish this out and back trail in about 6 hours. In the early summer, Vancouver was getting temperatures in the high 30 degree Celsius and we decided to take the opportunity to go for a swim at Widgeon Falls.
You need to start your day early to get to the Pitt Lake Boat launch before the parking lot fills up. Generally, if you arrive before 9 am you should get a spot. Another factor is to time your excursion with high tides to avoid having to portage, if possible, check the wind speed as well, as crossing the Pitt river at the start can be challenging if you are fighting a strong wind. The weather and tides looked to be in our favor early on a Saturday so we packed up our inflatable Kayak and headed to the lake.
The trail followed the river where we got glimpses of the calm waters. As well, the trail has some wood boardwalks to keep you out of the mud if you come in the wet season.
When we arrived at Pitt Lake, we headed directly across the water to Widgeon Creek. The paddle took about 60 minutes. The entire paddle was scenic and peaceful, with gorgeous views all around into the Widgeon Valley. We saw many types of birds, and a few deer. But if you are lucky, you may even spot a bear or coyote in this marshland.
After about 30 minutes of paddling, there was a fork in the creek and we saw a small sign for Widgeon Falls. We stayed left at this fork and followed the creek up as it became narrower and narrower. Eventually, we saw the shore of the campsite. We then got out of our kayak and carried up to the shore. We flipped it upside down to drain out water and left it up on the shore.
After securing our kayak at the campground, we grabbed a snack and started the hike up the trail. From there, it was about 2.9 km to the falls along the trail.
After the 2.9 kilometers and gaining about 80 meters of elevation, we arrived at the falls. There were several rock outcrops along the river edge, we found a rock to sit on and relaxed. While having a light snack, a butterfly decided to come over and say hi.
Follow the orange route from the boat launch to the campground.
On this day it was about 33 degrees celcius so we came prepared with our swimsuits and plunged right in. The perfect refreshing dip.
After enjoying a refreshing dip and took in the view, we backed down the trail, collected our kayak and completed our return paddle. Widgeon Falls was a great day trip and a great adventure in Vancouver's backyard. Happy exploring!
