Kootenay. 
Know before you go
Advisories
Safety information
- Bring your own drinking water as potable water is not available in the park.
Special notes
- The park does not have a boat launch. There is a boat launch at Canal Flats.
- This park is user-maintained.
- A well-developed, 400m long hiking and biking trail allows access to the lakeshore.
Review the detailed guides under visit responsibly for more information on staying safe and preserving our natural spaces.
Visit responsibly
Follow these guides to ensure your activities are safe, respectful, and ecologically friendly:
Maps and location
Getting there
Columbia Lake Park is located in the Columbia Valley of south eastern British Columbia approximately 2km south of Fairmont Hot Springs and 3km east of Hwy 93/95. The 257 hectare park lies on the eastern shore of Columbia Lake.
Access: Turn off Hwy 93/95 at the Fairmont Creek Road (across from the Riverside Gold Resort). Travel east for 0.4km. Turn right on the Columbia River Road. The park is located 1.6km south along this gravel road.
Things to do
This park allows for swimming in the largest warm water lake in the East Kootenay.
There are no lifeguards on duty in BC Parks.
Fishing on Columbia Lake is popular year-round (favoured sport fish are mountain whitefish, burbot, kokanee, rainbow trout, bull trout and cutthroat trout).
Anyone fishing in British Columbia must have an appropriate licence. To learn more, see the fishing and hunting guide.
Approximately 3km of undeveloped beach area allows for wildlife viewing, paddling, nature appreciation. The wetland and marsh offer excellent opportunities for nature appreciation, viewing and photography. The upland areas are largely pristine and provide a panorama of exceptional scenic value, particularly east towards the Rocky Mountains.
Pets and domestic animals must be on a leash at all times and are not allowed in beach areas or park buildings. You are responsible for their behaviour and must dispose of their excrement.
Mountain biking opportunities exist in this park, both on trails and on the access road. Bicycle helmets are mandatory in British Columbia.
The park provides an excellent area for biking along the entire east side of Columbia Lake as well as the upper grasslands on derelict logging roads and along the park access road.
For details on e-biking within Columbia Lake Park, see the e-biking section.
Please note that bicycles with electric assist motors (e-bikes) are permitted on signed or designated trails within Columbia Lake Park, provided they meet the definitions and criteria for e-bike use as outlined in the BC Parks cycling guidelines.
Facilities
Accessibility information is available for this park.
The park is open for day-use possibilities, but there are currently no day-use facilities in the park. The undeveloped, pristine lakeside setting offers recreation opportunities without high volumes of people.
Alternative locations on Columbia Lake (such as Tilley Memorial Park) possess a high level of facility infrastructure.
About this park
First Nations have been present in the Columbia Valley for over 10,000 years and the area surrounding and including the park was extensively used by members of both the Ktunaxa and Shuswap cultural groups in the pre-colonial period.
There are a total of 10 known archaeological sites (Borden unit classification) within the park boundary. These include sites associated with debris or waste material from past activity (e.g., tool or weapon making) or depressions that were created by human excavation and could represent former locations of storage pits, food processing facilities or semi-subterranean lodges.
The Spirit Trail (also known as the Fairmont Trail and the Plains of Nativity) passes through the park. This transportation route was used by both First Nations and early European explorers (e.g., David Thompson and Father De Smet) as a means to travel along the length of Columbia Lake. Indigenous peoples included the Spirit Trail as one of their favoured routes to points east of Canal Flats, namely Whiteswan Lake and into the Kananaskis country.
Numerous Traditional Use Sites (TUSs) have been identified in the park.
Established in 1988 by Order in Council #5, the park was considered to have high potential for destination camping and day use given the good vehicle access to the scenic warm water lake opportunities of Columbia Lake and the close proximity to Fairmont Hotsprings (a major golf/hot springs destination resort). Although lacking any formal facilities (e.g., picnic tables, toilets, fire rings) the beach and foreshore areas of the park are popular among residents of Fairmont Hotsprings as well as tourists visiting the Columbia Valley.
There are six other provincial parks (Windermere Lake, Dry Gulch, James Chabot, Whiteswan Lake, and Thunderhill), within a 40km radius of Columbia Lake Park. The latter, Thunderhill is located on Columbia Lake. Within a 100km radius of Columbia Lake, the Regional District of the East Kootenay has two regional parks, Wycliffe and Tie Lake, that offer similar day-use opportunities, but with a higher level of facility development than Columbia Lake Park.
The park protects 8% of the considerably under-represented East Kootenay Trench Ecosection (0.7% protected province wide). Thirteen protected areas include portions of this ecosection, but only three other parks, Kikomun, Burges James Gadsden, and Premier Lake exceed the park in representation of the EKT Ecosection.
Columbia Lake Park contributes close to 9% of protected areas representation of IDFdm2. This biogeoclimatic subzone lacks notable representation within the protected area system (0.93%).
Known species at risk within the park are Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (bluelisted), badger (red-listed), and the great blue heron (blue-listed).
The park retains a significant component of native grasslands and is integral in supplying winter range for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. The Canada Land Inventory depicts the entire east side of Columbia Lake as representing the largest contiguous Class 11 ungulate winter range in the Upper Columbia sub-region, and one of the least impacted of the low elevation Class 1 Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep winter ranges in British Columbia.
The park provides over-wintering habitat for a significant amount of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep from Kootenay National Park.
Adjacent wildlife management areas protect large and contiguous natural areas that help maintain biodiversity associated with the wetland and grassland habitats of the much smaller Columbia Lake Park. For example, the adjacent Columbia Wetlands Wildlife Management Area supports habitat for numerous avian, reptilian, mammalian and insect species, many of which are becoming increasingly rare or endangered. In addition, the Columbia Wetlands retain one of the last intact portions of the Pacific flyway in western North America, a key migratory route for waterfowl.
In the global context, wetland ecosystems are extremely susceptible to environmental degradation because they are both difficult to replace or restore and have been subject to human alteration over the last hundred years.
The ecosystem in and around Columbia Lake provides good to excellent habitat for a variety of fish species (e.g., mountain whitefish, burbot, kokanee, rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, bull trout, peamouth chubb, Northern Pikeminnow, large-scale sucker, redside shiner, sunfish and longnose sucker).
Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples
BC Parks honours Indigenous Peoples’ connection to the land and respects the importance of their diverse teachings, traditions, and practices within these territories. This park webpage may not adequately represent the full history of this park and the connection of Indigenous Peoples to this land. We are working in partnership with Indigenous Peoples to update our websites so that they better reflect the history and cultures of these special places.
Contact
| General questions and feedback for BC Parks | We answer emails weekdays from 9 am to 5 pm Pacific Time. |
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