Widgeon Creek has been on my bucket list for a long time! It’s a paddling route that leaves from Pitt Meadows, starting with a crossing of the Pitt River, and then meanders up Widgeon Creek through Widgeon Marsh and Pinecone Burke Provincial Park.

It’s only a half hour drive from my house, but the reason this sat on my bucket list for so long is because I was afraid of crossing the Pitt River. You have to cross the river at the entrance to Pitt Lake, which can get pretty windy, and the Pitt River is tidally influenced, meaning you can get some pretty fast currents coming in and out of the lake. Even though I know people cross the river all the time, in all manner of vessels (many of which are much less robust than my 16 foot sea kayak), I found the idea of crossing the Pitt River pretty intimidating. 

But I finally decided to go for it on a gorgeous day in early April. I didn’t want to go during freshet, when the flows increase from snow melt, and I didn’t want to go during the summer when it’s highly trafficked, so the conditions seemed to align in April. Now that I’ve done it, I’m kind of wondering what I was so afraid of! I know my risk aversion keeps me safe, but it was much less intimidating than I imagined. 

We got up early on a Saturday morning to beat the crowds. Fortunately, the creek wasn’t very busy at this time of year and we had no trouble crossing the Pitt River. There was definitely a current when we crossed and a headwind when we returned, but it was very manageable in our kayaks. I’d probably be too nervous to cross the river on a SUP, but there were some people doing it in the afternoon. Although I find it shocking the number of people who go out without a PFD!

The water was very calm when we crossed and the creek was almost completely still. I’ve heard the creek can run dry or very low in some sections during the hot summer, but we crossed near high tide and had no issues in either direction. It was such an enjoyable paddle on the way up the creek that me and Seth kept remarking that we had to spend more time exploring the area in the future (our go-to trip is generally paddling to Jug Island). 

We didn’t see any other paddlers on our way up the creek since it was still pretty early in the morning. You paddle through Widgeon Marsh, which is a regional park, and eventually cross into Pinecone Burke Provincial Park. I think this is so cool because I love Pinecone Burke – it’s such a large and underrated park – and I’ve now explored it from 3 different entry points. The most common entry is from Harper Road in Coquitlam, but I’ve also entered the Park along the trail to Seed Peak (east of Squamish), and now via Widgeon Creek.

The final destination by kayak is the Widgeon Creek campsite. There were a few boaters here who had come in the previous day and were camping overnight. We hauled our kayaks up on the shore and then re-packed our bags for a little hike to Widgeon Falls. The paddle to the campsite takes about 75 minutes, and it’s a 6km round trip hike from the campsite, so it makes for a nice day trip with a variety of activities. You can hike to the Falls mostly along an old forestry road, which is faster, but we opted for the detour through the forest, which is much more scenic.

The Falls are really nice and we hung out for an hour enjoying our lunch. We were the only people there, although we passed some other hikers along the way. We took the road back to the campground and then paddled out from there. We encountered more paddlers on the way back and the wind definitely picked up in the early afternoon. The hardest part of the day was crossing the Pitt River because we had a headwind, but it was very manageable in our kayaks. I wouldn’t want to do it on a SUP, and I did wonder if the people crossing on SUP realized they would have a pretty substantial headwind on the way back.

But overall, I absolutely loved everything about this trip! I’m keen to go back and I don’t think I’ll be quite as hesitant in the future. Since it’s a short paddle, it’s easily doable on a Friday night, so maybe we’ll come back some day and stay at the campground. You can also continue the hike up to Widgeon Lake, though I’ve heard it’s a bit of a slog, as the trail is not well maintained and usually has snow on it until July. 

Definitely play it safe if you’re planning on doing this trip and plan around the wind and current conditions, but it was a much less intimidating trip overall than I thought it would be. In the summer, you can rent kayaks from the parking lot, so it’s pretty accessible if you want to check it out! I think parking can get challenging though because this is also the parking lot for people recreating at Pitt Lake, so I recommend going early because then you can easily find parking and take advantage of the early morning calm on the water!