Harrison Hot Springs – Lakeside, Culture and Nature Experiences

Harrison Hot Springs combines a varied lakeside setting with trails, art and a centrally located indoor pool. Along the shore, you’ll find sandy beaches, parks, swimming areas and playgrounds. If you’re planning a trip with children, you can include playgrounds in your day plans; if you’re looking for time by the water, beaches and swimming areas offer specific places to visit. When choosing a vacation destination, you can consider whether you’d prefer to focus on the lakeside, culture or outdoor activities.

Lakeside and Water Activities

Harrison Lake, accessible from Harrison Hot Springs, is glacier-fed. It is about 60 kilometres long and about 9 kilometres wide at its broadest point. These approximate measurements give you an idea of the lake’s size, without implying any specific distances or travel times. Activities on the water include sailing, boating, windsurfing, kayaking and fishing. If you’re planning your stay around the activities you’d like to enjoy, you can consider these lake-based options.

Harrison Hot Springs itself also has a public boat launch. It belongs to the Village of Harrison Hot Springs, is operated by the Fraser Valley Regional District and can be used for a fee. The fee is relevant to your planning if you’d like to use the launch.

Trails and Discoveries in the Village

Harrison Hot Springs has well-maintained hiking and walking trails, including the Miami River Greenway. If you’d like to spend time on foot, this trail is one local option to consider. Another named spot is the recreation area with the Spirit Trail on McCombs Drive near McPherson Road. Facilities in the area include picnic tables, a washroom, a parking lot and interpretive signage. The signs also make this spot interesting for visitors who’d like to combine being active with learning about the area.

The Sasquatch Trail offers another way to discover the village: you can find Sasquatch carvings and statues in Harrison Hot Springs along the trail. For families, this can be a shared discovery activity, different from a walk focused mainly on the trail itself. Which of these options you include in your stay depends on whether you’re more interested in trails, public art or relaxing by the lake.

Art, Events and History

The Harrison Festival of the Arts is a ten-day event held every July along the shore of Harrison Hot Springs. The programme includes concerts, a craft market, visual art exhibits and interactive workshops. These different elements give the festival a broad cultural range, with music, crafts and visual art alongside hands-on activities. If you’re considering a July stay, this annual event is a distinct cultural highlight to consider when planning your trip.

The Ranger Station Art Gallery, a public art gallery in Harrison Hot Springs, is open year-round. It’s another option for art lovers, independent of the annual July festival. The Harrison Sasquatch Museum features exhibits on Land of the Giants and the Sts’ailes Longhouse room, as well as carvings and interactive displays. Admission to the museum is free. The different types of exhibits offer varied ways to explore Sasquatch and the art of carving.

Sasquatch Days is held annually by the Village of Harrison Hot Springs and the Nation of Sts’ailes. Events include war canoe races and medicine walks along the shores of Harrison Lake, on the traditional territory of the Sts’ailes People at the old village site of Qwólts. The mineral-rich waters of Harrison Hot Springs also have a long history of significance: the local Sts’ailes First Nations have revered them as a “healing place” for thousands of years.

Mineral Baths and How to Spend Your Stay

The Harrison Mineral Baths are an indoor pool centrally located in the Village of Harrison Hot Springs. The pool is maintained at 38 °C (100 °F). It adds another way to enjoy the water to the lakeside activities and village trails. If you don’t want to plan each day of your vacation rental stay solely around walks, art or events, you can also consider this indoor pool as part of what the village has to offer.

More places to explore: Mission, Kent, Fraser Valley A, Yale, Agassiz, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Hope.

For the broader travel overview: Fraser Valley.