Traveling the Coast Mountain Circle Route by Van

As far as BC road trips the Coast Mountain Circle Route, is one of our fall favourites. It was back in 2015 that we drove this route for the first time, almost to the exact wet weekend in November, and back then as now it was the perfect winding route for some rainy stop offs, and watching the last of the fall colours peeking through. The route itself spans a huge variety of terrain, taking you through the lush rainforests of Vancouver and Squamish, mountain passes as you drive across the Duffey Lake Road, desert and grasslands through Lillooet and Lytton, and down through farmlands as you make your way through the lower mainland.

Camping in our Ford Transit van near Pemberton on our first night.

We began our journey in Whistler (although as a circle route you could head out from any point) and spent our first night camping in our van near Pemberton. As we headed out that morning, our first stop was at a slightly snowy Joffre Lakes. Joffre Lakes is somewhere we’ve visited in every season, and this time of year, with fewer crowds and the first sprinklings of snow it made a perfect stop for breakfast. We made some oatmeal in the van and brought it with us on the short trail that lead to the first of the three lakes at Joffre. If you’re looking for a hike, it’s around 10km round trip to visit all three lakes with absolutely beautiful views. The first lake is only about 500 meters away from the carpark, and makes a great little rest stop.

Parked up next the a lake on the Duffey Lake Road

We drove on from Joffre Lake, and journeyed through the Duffey. The Duffey Lake Road is around a 100km mountain pass, that comes with some awesome views. There are several steep sections and cell service is pretty much unavailable for the entire drive. There are also no gas stations on this section of road, so plan ahead and fill up in Pemberton if you’re heading out this way. Take advantage of the lack of signal and spend some time relaxing lake side, and taking in the sights. We actually saw our first black wolf while driving the Duffey! It was drinking from the river, but it was gone by the time we could go back and take a photo.

Along the Duffey Lake Road

We made our way through Lillooet and from here drove south, through Lytton to Boston Bar. There are some cool activities here, like taking the cable car over Hells Gate, but as we were driving through fairly late in the day we decided to look for somewhere to camp instead. We stopped for some dinner in Hope then headed up to Harrison Hot Springs where we found a cozy spot by the forest to park up for the night.

The next morning we went for a rainy wander by the lake in Harrison. Other times we’ve been here we’ve visited the hot springs so definitely put that on your itinerary if it’s your first time visiting. Harrison Hot Springs resort and spa has beautiful scenic pools, or if you are traveling on a budget, check out the public pool, where you can bathe in the healing mineral waters.

The next stop on our adventure was an unexpected one. As we drove through Mission we spotted signs to a waterfall and followed then to Cascade Falls Regional Park. The drive took us through sleepy little farming towns and beautiful fall coloured woods until we arrived at the park. We made our way up the short trail and across the little boardwalk to the suspension bridge and were greeted by the most thundering waterfall we’ve seen. Visiting during the rainy season definitely paid off, and this weekend had been an especially wet one (weather warnings were coming up all weekend long).The waterfall was absolutely raging. The suspension bridge passes over the base of the waterfall as it flows down into a creek, so you can get a birds eye view of the rapids. Its super slippery in the rain though, we had to hold onto the handrails the whole way across.

Cascade Falls Regional Park

We finished our journey through the city of Vancouver. If you extra time, definitely stop off in Vancouver for a few days, it’s a destination by itself. We’re fortunate enough to be close enough to visit Vancouver regularly, so were happy to make our way back up the Sea to Sky highway to Whistler and complete the circle route.