Meager Creek Hotsprings

Meager Creek Hotsprings is one of the penultimate hotsprings I've been too. It's rustic and out of the way with pools made from natural rocks. There are three different main pools, a toilet and change room. When I first came up here clothing was optional. This trip I found was mostly families with small children as well as the young lovers. I didn't take any pictures of anyone else but myself, not just because of vanity but also respect for others privacy. When I was there I was alone in the smallest and hottest pool (middle picture) for a while whereas the other pictures are part of larger pools where a half dozen people were. It has never felt crowded at all not like Radium. Altogether this time there were about 20 adults and a half dozen children. In the old days when a campground was present there might be 50 people at a time but it never felt crowded. I've been up here in the fall when there were only a few of us. Other times of the year it may be more busy. No doubt clothing is optional still for those more confident, younger or just plain vain. With kids about I'm happy in a bathing suit. In my imagination I hear a kid shouting, "Mommy, why is that old man not wearing any clothes?" And the mother answering, "Alzheimers!"

There were beer drinkers there this time despite the signs posted banning alcohol. I think drinking where drinking is prohibited is a pretty good indicator of alcoholism budding or full blown. Thankfully there wasn't any drunkeness but that's usually later at night and the parks only allow the hotsprings to be open 8 am to 8 pm. Probably a good idea given the bears, wolves and cougars in the area which would consider steamed tourist tasty. Daylight hours the predators are generally asleep. To date only the boys and girls wanting to be ravaged have been, by their own kind.

To get there you drive through Pemberton Town Centre and turning right onto Pemberton Meadows Road drive 27 km paved highway to the Lillooet River Service Road. There are alot of signs. You take this to cross a bridge over the Lillooet River leaving famous spud farm country to travel with the Coast Mountains on the right and the Lillooet River on the left. I've seen deer and moose along this road near dawn and dusk. It's a logging road which cars travel all the time despite the shallow pot holes. 39 km along it (don't turn off and up or you'll end in Gold Bridge) there's a left hand turn that takes you back across the Lillooet River. It's an easy 7.5 km drive to the parking lot, a city block walk across the Meager Creek Bridge and then a 100 meter forest walk to the Hotsprings. In 2003 the Meager Creek Bridge was taken out by flooding. The old bridge was replaced by a skookum new one. Recreational Sites and Trails BC manages the hotsprings and charge a $5 day fee. No dogs are allowed for health reasons.

Meager Creek Hotsprings is a bit of heaven on earth.