Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park Campground

Liard Hot Springs is a must stop on your way North! You can simply stop for a soak (10$ per vehicle) or spend the night at the campground (26$ + 5$ to make a reservation, highly recommended on the weekend) to enjoy the springs more than one time. There is a small truck stop/pull-out across the road, so you could camp there for free if there is room (part of it is also the campground overflow). Know that there is absolutely no signal (or wifi at the Lodge on the other side of the road). It can be pretty buggy in June which makes it a much less relaxing activity... Liard is open year round. In the Alpha pool, the water temperatures range from 42° C to 52° C. Facilities include a change house and composting toilet. A boardwalk, which leads to the hot spring pools, passes through a warm water swamp and boreal forest that supports rich and diverse plant communities as well as mammal and bird species. We saw a moose drinking from the springs!

A must stop on your way to and back to Alaska. Even if you are just visiting the parks in the Canadian rockies I would recommended spending a couple of nights here. The hot spring are the nicest that we have ever encountered a true mixture of man made and the natural. The camp ground, honestly I don't remember, it's all about the hot springs. But if you must know, it was nice with well spaced sights. If you can, reserve closer to the hot springs, because it is a walk with both mosquitoes and bears.

This is a popular provincial park and getting a site in the summer season requires arriving by early afternoon. They have an overflow area on the other side of the highway, a gravel parking area beside the highway, that they apparently charge the same rate to stay in - $26. Alternately there is a private campground 2km north called Mould Creek.

Sites are good – level, groomed gravel sites with picnic tables and fire pits, decently spaced for some privacy in a forest setting. No hook ups and the water spigot in the campground had an Out of Order sign on it, though the one at the entrance was working. There were pit toilets plus garbage and recycling bins. No showers anywhere in the park.

The hot springs are a relaxing and beautiful 1.5 km walk round trip from the campground, give or take. There are pit toilets and changerooms at the hot springs. It was a bit buggy when we were there in late June but not too bad - a little tea tree oil on the temples keeps them at bay.

No cell service on AT&T or Bell Canada.

All gasoline in this area is expensive but the best price was at the gas station across from the campground. Gas is reasonably priced in Watson Lake to the north and Fort Nelson to the south so just buy enough to get you there!

While in the middle of nowhere, with zero cell service on any carrier, no wifi... this was my jam. The campground is 1/2 reservable and 1/2 FCFS. Ever since we moved into our RV 2 years ago, this was one of the places on my HAVE TO list. It didn’t disappoint.

The sites are partial to wholly shaded and well-maintained. There are vault toilets, and camping comes with 24-hour access to the springs. The cost is CAD $26/night. There seems to be a free lot across the street where you can overnight. Then I think it’s CAD $10/carload for the use of the spring.

There’s a boardwalk out to the springs where you’ll find changing rooms and three vault toilets in another building. There are no showers here. The springs themselves are natural. They don’t add chlorine or other chemicals to the water. The banks are plants and dirt.

The mainspring has small stones covering the bottom. The cooler pool has more of a rock/mud mixture on the bottom. The water does smell of sulfur, but it isn’t as bad as Pagosa Springs and doesn’t linger on your skin.

Past the springs, there’s a short walk and some stairs to the hanging gardens. It’s worth a stroll to check them out.

The campground and Hot Springs at this Provincial Park are not to be passed, something that I've done many times before but never again. I've always heard had great of a Hot Springs this place had, but I finally stopped in to see what the fuss was all about, and all the fuss was true. You don't have to stay at the campground to enjoy the hot springs, but you will have to buy a day pass to use them. The campground itself is in great shape, and the site maintenance guys even rake the sights to give them an even better appearance. Some sites can be reserved, however there is plenty of first come, first serve sites also. If you need to fuel up in this area you can do so across the road at the lodge, however I would only get enough to allow arrival in Watson Lake if your headed north, where it will be about .65/liter cheaper.

The campground is nice and well-maintained. Sites didn't feel narrow, cramped, or too close to any others, and they were quite clean. Pit toilets and trash bins in a few spots, and some potable water pumps. You can walk to the hot springs from the campground. You can buy bundles of firewood for $8. Didn't get any, so I'm not sure how big a bundle is. There were only 4 sites available when we arrived around 3 pm at the beginning of June. I heard the ranger say they fill up most days by then. I recommend arriving earlier or grabbing a reservation (only about half the sites are reservable. The rest are FCFS). If they fill up, there is an overflow lot across the street. It costs the same to stay there.

The hot springs are absolutely the reason you stop here. You could get a day pass rather than pay the camping fee, and the day-use lot has some space for RVs. Not sure what the day-use fee was, but the camping fee includes hot springs use, so it seemed worth it. Camping on site also allows you to go to the springs after-hours (after 11 pm or before 6 am).

The hot springs are incredible. Definitely the nicest I've ever visited. One side has changing rooms, bench seats, and steps for pool access. The other side and further downstream are all natural, though. It makes for a great setting. The upper pool is a bit hotter than the lower. In the lower pool, you can follow the water downstream, and it cools off the further you go.

No cell reception or wifi. Didn't have any connectivity until we reached Watson Lake. Fuel was available at Liard, but we drove about 30 miles down the road to get it, and it was a bit cheaper (still more expensive than Watson Lake, though).

There's a reason this park has so many reviews on Campendium in spite of the distance to get here from anywhere! The park is neat and clean with gravel roads and pads, firepits and heavy tables at each site. About half of the sites are reservable, and when we stayed here June 2nd & 3rd, all of the reserved sites were gone when I checked several days prior. We intentionally scheduled a short day for our arrival, arriving about noon which worked to our benefit. By the end of the day the park was full as was the overflow parking across the road.

What sets Liard River apart from any other northern B.C. Provincial Parks is the hot springs. (There is also a large parking lot for day use if you want to enjoy the hot springs and keep on going.) We were here for one night six years ago and built our travel plan around a layover day here.

We overnighted at Liard River on our way to Alaska. Our site was nice and roomy, with a picnic table, fire pit and plenty of room to spread out. There is a bathhouse near the hot springs pool, pit toilets, campfire rings, and picnic areas. The hot springs pool is the main attraction and wildlife viewing.

No hookups or dump station at this park. There are two hand pumps for water. They do take reservations and they also have first-come, first-served sites. We will definitely stay at Liard River Hot Springs again when traveling to Alaska. This is a MUST do if you are traveling to Alaska.

My favorite place to stop on the trip down from Alaska to the lower 48. Campsite is clean and they have firewood for sale. And can’t beat relaxing in the hot springs after a long day of driving.

As other reviewers have stated this is a must stop when driving the alcan. We have a 43 ft fifth wheel and checked out the FCFS sites when we arrived. There were some we could have made it work in but honestly it wasn’t worth it. So we decided to save ourselves the hassle and go to the overflow lot, which we should’ve done right away. Even saw some fire pits over there. Several other large rigs were searching for a good site in the campground only to end up in the overflow lot as well.
Some campground sites actually would have been a further walk to the springs than the overflow lot. The $26 nightly rate covered both our entrance fees to the springs, which felt like heaven after driving all day. No signal with ATT or Verizon.