Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park is a
provincial park in
British Columbia,
Canada, located in the
Lillooet Country region to the northeast of
Pemberton and immediately northwest of
Birkenhead Peak
Birkenhead Peak, commonly known as Mount Birkenhead and sometimes Birkenhead Mountain or Mount Birken (2506 m (8222 ft) prominence: 1781 m) is a mountain in the Gates Valley region of the Lillooet Country of the South-Central Interior o ...
and
Gates Lake
Gates Lake, also known as Birken Lake, Tenass Lake, Halfway Lake, and Summit Lake, is a small lake located at the summit of the Pemberton Portage area of the one-time Lakes Route through the Coast Mountains, located at the summit of a low pass co ...
(a.k.a. Birken Lake) at the community of
Birken.
History and conservation
It was established in 1963 to provide a recreation and conservation area between the
Pemberton Valley
The Pemberton Valley is a valley flanking the Lillooet River upstream from Lillooet Lake, including the communities of Mount Currie, Pemberton, British Columbia and the agricultural district surrounding them and flanking the river as far upstrea ...
and
Lillooet and it has 79 vehicle accessible campsites and a lakeside beach area. The park's wildlife includes
mountain goats,
black bears and
grizzly bear
The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America.
In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...
s while the lake itself is home to
Rainbow Trout
The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...
and
Kokanee Kokanee is a word from the Okanagan language referring to land-locked lake populations of sockeye salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka''). It may also refer to:
* Kokanee Range, a subrange of the Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia, Canada
* Kokanee sal ...
. The lake is also home to a protected species of Bull Trout, often mistaken for Dolly Varden.
Location and access
It is located 90 kilometres north-east of
Whistler, the last 12 kilometres of which are a non-paved gravel road branching off the main paved from between
Mount Currie and
D'Arcy via Blackwater Creek, a tributary of the
Gates River, a few miles northeast of the community of
Birken.
Size
Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park is 97.55 km
2.
External links
Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park
*
{{British Columbia parks
Provincial parks of British Columbia
Sea-to-Sky Corridor
Lillooet Country
1963 establishments in British Columbia
Protected areas of British Columbia