Skip to content
psingh.ca
Menu
Contact
Mist and a break of sun over Alouette Lake, forested ridges on both sides and waterbirds on the calm water

Alouette Lake: Golden Ears Day-Use, Mist, and a Pass You Book in Summer

The honest Golden Ears lakeside stop - not Gold Creek Falls, not a ridge, a day-use shore with a fjord-shaped lake and weather that does the work. Worth it on a moody morning. Book the pass in summer or you are turning around at the gate.

·

Quick facts

Distance
3 km
Elevation gain
20 m
Highest point
150 m
Difficulty
Easy
Time needed
0.5-2 hours
Route type
Out and back
Season
Year-round at this elevation if the park road is open. Summer is a beach and a day-use pass. Shoulder season is mist, empty picnic tables, and the version in these photographs. Winter can close or restrict the road after snow.
Drive from Vancouver
1 h 15 min
Transit accessible
No
Dog friendly
Yes
Pass or permit
Day-use pass requiredGolden Ears is one of the BC Parks day-use pass parks in summer, along with Garibaldi and Joffre. Confirm the current window before you drive. No pass, no entry on the days it is in effect. Campground reservations are a separate system and a different entrance problem. Dogs on leash. Drones are prohibited.
Last hiked
Traditional territory
q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie) and qʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen) territory, on Alouette Lake in the Golden Ears, with neighbouring Stó:lō connections through the Fraser and Pitt
On this page3 sections

Golden Ears is a large park with a lot of trails people actually search for, and this page is not those trails. It is the Alouette Lake day-use shore: picnic tables, a beach, a boat launch, and a lake that sits in a valley like a fjord. I photographed it on a heavy July morning, not on a swimming Saturday.

I was there on 26 July 2023. Cloud on the ridges, mist on the water, a break of sun in the middle of the lake. That is this page. If you wanted Gold Creek Falls or the Panorama Ridge equivalent, you are in the wrong guide.

Getting there

Maple Ridge, 232nd Street, Fern Crescent, then the park road into Golden Ears. The Alouette Lake day-use lots are signed. From Vancouver that is about an hour and a quarter when the traffic on the Pitt Meadows bridges is kind.

In summer you need a BC Parks day-use pass on the days the system is running. Confirm the current window before you drive. No pass, no argument at the gate. Campground bookings are a different queue.

Low mist on Alouette Lake with forested mountains and a break of light through heavy cloud
The lake doing the work. Wait for the weather. A hard blue sky here is a postcard of a reservoir.

The walk

This is not a hike with a destination cairn. Walk the day-use shore. The lake does the work if the weather is in. The far ridges close the valley. Waterbirds hold the middle of the frame if you wait.

Stay out of the way of boat trailers. Dogs on leash. The swimming beaches are the summer version of this place, and they are loud, packed, and a different photograph. I did not swim. I stood in the mist and waited for the cloud to open.

If you want a proper loop around a reservoir closer to town, that is Buntzen Lake, with its own reservation circus. If you want turquoise in a mountain bowl, that is Lindeman Lake, not this shore.

The photograph

Expose for the break in the cloud. Let the ridges go dark. A polariser on the water. Do not include the picnic shelter unless the piece is about the park, not the lake.

Drones off. This is a provincial park. The wide aerial of a misty lake is not a thing you legally take from this lot.

Hiked it myself

Heavy cloud, mist on the water, a break of sun on the far ridges. Walked the Alouette Lake day-use shore. A bluebird beach Saturday is a different park.

Reported by Parveen Singh

Trail notes from the field

One email a month: what is melting out, what is snowed in, and where the light is good right now. Written after the hike, not before it.

By subscribing you agree to receive occasional emails from psingh.ca. No spam, no selling your address, unsubscribe any time.

Shooting this trail

Photography notes

Best light
Storm light and mist, which is the opposite of the beach-day advice. 26 July was heavy cloud, a gold break over the far ridges, and a skin of mist on the water. Morning is more likely to give you that than mid-afternoon. Midday sun on a packed beach is a crowd picture whether you want one or not.
Best season
June through September for swimming and the pass circus. The photograph on this page is a moody July, which you can also get in October. Winter is a road-and-gate question before it is a light question.
Compositions
  • Wide down the lake at 24-35mm, ridges as walls, mist on the water, a break of sun if you get one. Let the sky be dark. Expose for the highlight in the cloud.
  • Waterbirds as scale at 70-200mm. A line of ducks on glass is the foreground the lake does not otherwise give you from the day-use shore.
  • A vertical of mist and a single ridge. Crop out the picnic tables. They are not the subject.
Gear
A polariser for glare on the water. You do not need a heavy kit for a shore walk. You do need the pass screenshot in summer, and a layer, because a misty July morning on this lake is colder than Maple Ridge will feel on the drive in. Drones are prohibited. The aerial version of this lake is not a thing you legally shoot from here.