Must Do Hike in Beautiful BC – Joffre Lakes Trail

By sylvia.jakubik On 19 September 2026

Joffre Lakes is a short but rewarding hike that takes you past three stunning alpine lakes: Lower Joffre Lake, Middle Joffre Lake and Upper Joffre Lake. It’s popular. Very popular. So popular that BC Parks introduced day-use passes to manage visitation and protect the park. In 2019, the park had nearly 200,000 visitors and current BC Park figures put annual visitation around 160,000.

Joffre Lakes isn’t a hidden gem, and it doesn’t pretend to be one. You’re coming to a place that has been photographed, posted, pinned and talked about thousands of times. And yes, you may have to share those views with plenty of other people. It is also a sacred place for the Líl̓wat Nation and N’Quatqua Nation, who know the area as Pipi7íyekw.

So, can a place still surprise you when you’ve already seen a thousand photographs of it? The answer is yes. But not necessarily for the reasons you expect. Some places are popular because they’re overhyped. Joffre Lakes is popular because it’s genuinely spectacular. And sometimes, despite everything we tell ourselves about finding the road less traveled, there is nothing wrong with going to see the view everyone else is talking about. Especially when it’s that good.

So, What’s the Hype?

The hype around Joffre Lakes is really about the combination, not just the lakes themselves, Yes, the turquoise water is the obvious attraction. But lots of places in BC have turquoise lakes. What makes Joffre different is that three of them are stacked into one relatively accessible hike, with the landscape getting progressively more dramatic as you go.

Lower Lake is only about 5-minute walk from the parking lot, so you get a spectacular mountain-and-lake view immediately. By Upper Lake, you’re looking straight toward Matier Glacier and Joffre Peak. And there is the famous log. Yes, the log. That perfectly positioned piece of wood at Middle Joffre Lake that has achieved a level of Instagram fame most of us can only dream of. You’ll know it when you see it. And judging by the number of people waiting for their turn, apparently walking on it is the very essential part of the Joffre Lakes experience. Naturally, I had to have my moment too. Because if you hike all the way to Joffre Lakes and don’t take a photo on the log, did you even go to Joffre?

The Experience

I’m deliberately not turning this into another step by step Joffre Lakes hiking guide. There are plenty of those. But there is obviously one very important thing to know before going: get your pass first. This isn’t a hike where I’d recommend simply showing up and hoping for the best during the busy season. Joffre Lakes is extremely popular, and BC Parks uses a day-use pass system during peak periods to manage visitation. Be ready when passes are released (7 am daily) and don’t give up if you don’t get one immediately.

Starting September 22, 2026, BC Parks requires visitors to create and verify an account on the BC Parks Reservation Website before booking any day-use passes to stop scalpers and bot activity.

So, What’s the Trick?

If i knew, I’d tell you. It took me three days to secure two day-use passes. You can reserve up to four passes per transaction. They were disappearing in what felt like five seconds. But after three days of trying, I finally got them. Then came the painfully early morning wake-up and the drive from Langley toward Whistler. And honestly, the Sea to Sky highway deserves its own paragraph. The drive alone is spectacular. Mountains on one side, water on the other, and views that keep getting better around every corner.

So, Who Is This Hike For?

Joffre Lakes isn’t wilderness in the traditional sense. It’s a popular, well-loved and very photographed corner of BC. You’re going to see people. A lot of people. You’ll probably wait for that famous log. Someone will likely wander into your perfectly composed photograph. And that’s okay. If you can accept that and focus on what brought you there in the first place, the mountains, the lakes, the glacier, and the sheer ridiculous beauty of it all, then I think you’ll have a pretty great day.