Camping at BC recreation site lakes

Much of the best lake fishing in British Columbia is at the end of a gravel road, beside a small campground run by Recreation Sites and Trails BC. These rec sites are the province's backcountry campgrounds: a handful of tent pads or a few dozen spots, pit toilets, often a rough boat launch, and the lake a few steps away. Every lake page on this site lists the rec sites at that lake with the campsite count where one is published, the facilities, the road directions and a link to the site's official page.

How a rec site works

Most rec sites are first come, first served. Some are free, and many charge a small nightly fee collected on site by a caretaker or through the province, and a few can be reserved. They are simple on purpose: expect no power, no running water and often no garbage service, so pack out everything you bring in. Day use sites allow no overnight stay at all. Check the site's own page, linked from the lake page, for fees, season and any closure before you go.

Forest service roads

Many rec site lakes are reached on forest service roads, gravel roads built for logging and shared with loaded trucks. On a radio controlled road the signs give a channel and kilometre markers, and drivers call their position as they travel. Without a radio, drive slowly, keep right, pull over for trucks and give way on every blind corner. Carry a full size spare, a paper map or an offline one, and more fuel than you think you need, because there is usually no cell signal. Once the app has loaded, the lake list, the rec sites and their road directions stay on the phone for that reason.

Launching a boat

Rec site launches range from a gravel ramp to a gap in the reeds. Many small lakes suit a car-topped boat, a canoe or a float tube better than a trailer, and some lakes limit or ban motors, which the regulations for each lake set out. On a windy lake a small boat is at the wind's mercy, which is one reason the forecast on each lake scales the wind to that lake's own open water.

Fire, bears and neighbours

Campfire bans are common in BC summers and are set by the BC Wildfire Service by fire centre. Check before you go, and check the smoke and fire layer on the map.
This is bear country almost everywhere. Keep food, garbage and fish waste locked in a vehicle or hung, never in the tent, and clean fish away from the campsite.
Sites are small and sound carries over water. Quiet hours are posted at most sites and a generator at dawn is the quickest way to lose friends.
Leave the site cleaner than you found it. Many are kept open by volunteers and local groups.

Which lakes have a site

The counts below come from the Recreation Sites and Trails BC listings attached to each lake in the atlas. A lake counts once however many sites it has, and a site counts toward camping only when the province lists camping there.

Lakes with a Recreation Sites and Trails BC site, by region
Region	Lakes in the atlas	With a rec site	With a campsite at the site
Vancouver Island	193	91	50
Lower Mainland	133	80	39
Thompson-Nicola	341	287	187
Kootenays	162	116	85
Cariboo	328	264	117
Skeena	183	135	78
Omineca	235	183	112
Peace	54	26	13
Okanagan	213	176	138

1,358 lakes carry at least one site and 819 of them at least one with camping, as Recreation Sites and Trails BC lists them. A day use site is counted as a site but not as a campsite.

Planning the trip

Pick the region, open its page, and look for lakes with a campsite and the depth or fish you are after.
Open the lake in the app for the seven-day score and choose the calm days before you commit to the drive.
Read the road directions on the lake page, and open the app once, before you lose signal.

Open the map: 1,842 BC lakes, each with a 7-day forecast and a score