Azure Lake, Wells Gray Park: Canoeing BC’s Remote Glacier-Fed Lake

There is no road to Azure Lake. To reach this long, deep and startlingly blue lake in British Columbia’s Wells Gray Provincial Park, you paddle or motor the length of Clearwater Lake, work through a short river channel and only then see Azure open up eastward towards the glaciers of the Cariboo Mountains.

Azure Lake facts: size, depth and colour

Azure Lake stretches up to 24 km, covers about 30.5 km² and lies at 682 m above sea level. It is remarkably deep: about 157 m on average and 318 m at its deepest point. The lake is a widening of the Azure River, which rises from a glacier in the Cariboo Mountains; Angus Horne Creek is its other main inflow. Its outflow runs only about 50 m before it joins the Clearwater River.

The name simply describes the colour. It appeared on a map in 1914 and in the BC Gazetteer in 1930, and for a time the lake was also called Blue Lake. Angus Horne may have been the one to name it.

How to reach Azure Lake from Clearwater Lake

The trip starts at the boat launch at the south end of Clearwater Lake, 71 km up Wells Gray Park Road from Highway 5 at the town of Clearwater; the last 28 km are gravel. Clearwater Lake runs north–south and Azure runs east–west, each about 22 km long, so together they form a great L-shaped water route.

• By motorboat: boats travel up Clearwater Lake and through the Clearwater and Azure rivers for 2.9 km. A motor of at least 9.9 hp is needed for the channel, and personal watercraft are banned on both lakes.
• By canoe or kayak: a 500 m portage links the lakes. It has many stairs and boardwalks, so canoe carts are no use.
• By water taxi or tour: local operators run guided canoe trips and boat tours, and rental canoes are available at the launch.

Float planes and helicopters need a special permit from BC Parks.

Campsites, Rainbow Falls and Huntley Col

The Clearwater–Azure marine area has 16 campsites and three backcountry trailheads. A trail near the east end of Azure Lake leads to Rainbow Falls, one of the lake’s best-known waterfalls, which has a campsite on the south shore; it is also a popular drop-off point for multi-day water-taxi trips.

The toughest trail from Azure climbs to Huntley Col: 4 km one way from the 4½ Mile campsite on the north shore, with about 1,300 m of climbing and around five hours of effort for experienced hikers. Hugh Neave first blazed it in 1966. The Hobson Lake Trail, another backcountry route, runs 15 km one way to the south end of Hobson Lake.

Wind, water levels and the best season

Both lakes are known for short, violent storms with high winds and big waves. BC Parks’ advice is clear: never try to outrun a storm; beach your boat and wait until it is safe. High water in June and July calls for strong paddling in the river channel, while late-summer low water can leave it very shallow.

For trip planning, contact the Wells Gray Information Centre on 250-587-2090.

Helmcken Falls and the wider Wells Gray

Wells Gray is often called a waterfall park, and its star is Helmcken Falls, a single 141 m drop on the Murtle River. Surveyor Robert Henry Lee reached its top in 1913; the premier, Sir Richard McBride, named it after the physician John Sebastian Helmcken. A short paved road leads to a viewing platform on the canyon rim, and in late January and February an ice cone up to about 50 m high builds at the base.

For a roadside lake of similar colour, see Peyto Lake in Banff. For another landscape shaped by a river, visit Wyoming’s Gros Ventre River.

Related reading

• Peyto Lake in Banff
• Wyoming’s Gros Ventre River
• Frozen Hairstyles at Takhini Hot Springs in Canada
• Canadian Winter Humour: Snowbanks, Cold-Weather Scenes and Everyday Life
• Yellowknife’s Hot-Water Cloud in Extreme Cold
• Soap Bubbles in a Thompson, Manitoba Winter
• Frozen Bubbles at Mount Washington Observatory
• Hot Water in Extreme Cold: What the Pale Cloud Shows
• Angela Kelly’s Frozen Bubbles: Ice Crystals, Reflections and Fragile Forms
• A Wisconsin Cold-Weather Stunt in Its Original Setting
• An Ice-Covered Stairwell: The Photographs Behind a Temperature Claim

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