Sorry in advance mom. That’s how I’ll start this one. Meager Creek is not for the faint of heart.

I’m glad my readers know about my FOMO tendencies already. Its a good place to start for how the Meager Creek Hot Springs bike ride started to formulate in my mind.

Backstory of Meager Creek

During Week 4.5, which I detailed out here: Exploring the Sea to Sky Around Pemberton – Week 4.5, I ended up walking into the Pemberton hospital for a scratch on my eye. I omitted this from last week’s blog, as it really did not add much to the content AND it wasn’t even a good story. I’m 99% sure it was caused by fanning a sweater over the fire alarm while cooking sausages, and something small was dislodged from the sweater and scraped the cornea on the way by.

Anyways, enough about that – there I was in the hospital, talking to a nurse who was a Pemberton local for the last 25 years. Born and raised in Australia, she visited British Columbia and like many other travelers, never returned home.

She was a wealth of knowledge about the area. When she learned I had brought out my gravel bike, she began giving me tips on different areas and routes to enjoy. And oh boy, there was a lot of them.

But the one trip she mentioned that stood out the most was Meager Creek Hot Springs.

Not only was I infatuated with hot springs at the time (I still am), but she added that Meager had been shut down and abandoned over the past few years. ABANDONED HOT SPRINGS? Okay, I’m sold.

Lucky me I ended up with a scratch on my eye!

Abandoned Hot Springs!

Now at this point, a couple questions are probably popping up in your head, just as they were for me back then. Why would any hot springs be abandoned? Did something happen to the hot springs that shut them down for good? She never gave me details, so I went searching the internet for the reasons.

And this is what I came to find.

Meager Creek is one of, if not THE, most dangerous and unstable valley in British Columbia. This valley has seen at least 8 large rock/land slides in the past 100 years, and one in 1975 actually took the lives of 4 geologists. Sadly, their bodies were never found.

On top of that, the site has opened and closed throughout the years due to multiple access bridges being destroyed by the slides. Each time a new bridge pops up, it gets taken out by natural causes. The best example is a 1 million dollar bridge built in 2009, destroyed in just a few seconds of a landslide in 2010.

Back in the peak of 1994, the Meager Creek Hot Springs had a yearly visitor count of around 30,000 people. Bumping, to say the least. Now in 2022, it hosts a fraction of that number – the very brave (read: stupid) fraction is how I see it.

Departing Pemberton

June 2nd seemed as good a day as any to try out the trip. Also, this is my first destination spotlight that actually flows in the correct timeline as the rest of my journal, a nice change.

The road out from Pemberton wound through the meadows before hitting a gravel road about 30km out. This part of the ride was pretty tame, with flat pavement and nothing too noteworthy taking place. The views, as always, were stunning.

About 2km along the gravel road that winds along the Lillooet River, I came upon a closed gate. There are always plenty of signs up around closed gates in B.C., giving warnings and whatnot. But I’ll always remember this one, which read “Gate Closed November 1 – June 15 for Grizzly Bear Habitat Restoration and Hibernation, no Motorized Vehicles allowed.”

And here’s the thing. I’m on a peddle bike. That sign doesn’t apply to me! At least, half the sign. I should still be on the lookout for grizzly bears, probably. They are much more worrisome than black bears, in everyone’s opinion.

But anyways, I hop the gate and keep rolling. I would hate to think of what I would’ve missed out on if I had turned back at that point! FOMO!

Entering Lillooet Forest Service Road

The gravel road I was rolling on was the Lillooet South Creek FSR. Once you get past the gate, this road is a steady climb up towards Meager Valley, another 40km away from the gate that I had just hopped.

The next 2.5 hours was a tough grind. The views of the river and tributaries flowing around the road were soothing, but the uphill elevation combined with loose and sandy gravel was energy sucking.

There were multiple fueling breaks along the way, and multiple times when I stopped and thought to myself “Maybe I should turn around?”. But each of those thoughts were answered by some fresh bear dung on the gravel road, and silly me figured the best bet was just to keep pedaling forward.

There was also a moment along this road where I realized I was about 30km past a ‘closed to vehicles’ gate, with no cell reception, in the middle of grizzly bear habitat. Huh, I don’t see an issue. Do you?

Meager Creek Valley

And let’s keep adding to that list of worries. Again about 30km past the gate, after saying out loud “I should turn around” to no one in particular, I start to see signs of old landslide activity. Steep, overhanging cliffs on my left, large chunks of rock on the road, steep cliffs down to my right. More physical signs saying “Dangerous Landslide Activity, no stopping next 2 km”.

But I’m on a bike, and those signs are definitely meant for trucks. Better speed up a little bit, make it through here safely! Can’t miss out on those hot springs!

I also have to give the route massive credit, as while I had a long list of worries, the riding was FUN. Up and down, steep descents turning into quick ascents, the road winding its way along the cliff edge. It really was an exciting ride, if not for all the evident dangers.

After getting through the last 10km (at this point, I was about 70km into the ride), I finally hit my destination of Meager Creek Hot Springs. I thought I was lost at first, but I noticed this tiny sign pointing off to a trail into the woods that just said “Meager Hot Springs”. That can’t be shady?

Meager Creek Hot Springs

While noticing the sign, my eye also caught something else across the bridge. Now I hadn’t seen a single soul for perhaps the last 3 hours, and I figured I was pretty alone being all the way out here, so the movement caught me by surprise.

But, it was just a black bear, sniffing around some pylons about 50 metres away from me. Thankfully, it was across the bridge, and I darted into the path to the hot springs before it took much notice. I was planning on returning this same route, but that was future Jeremy’s problem.

I walked my bike down this trail a ways before I came to what seemed like an old campsite. Except, there were two tents set up. This was by far the most surprising thing I witnessed on the trip, something I was not prepared for. Other people at an abandoned hot spring?

But the campers must have been out for the day, as I travelled the entire campsite and hot spring area and did not find another sign of them. I have no idea who they were, where they were, or how they got there, but it gave me the creeps seeing the tents and not finding the owners.

The Pools

The hot spring pools themselves were beautiful, well made and separated to keep some distance from other relaxers. But definitely abandoned, as the nurse had said. Changerooms, a bathroom, the pools, all abandoned and seemingly untouched for a number of years.

The hot spring water was still feeding into the pools, but the valves in the pools were open to transfer the water from one pool to another in a constant stream. It flowed quite quickly through each pool before ending up in the river and mixing with the thawed glacier water rushing by below.

While part of me did want to enjoy a dip in the nice water, I thought better of messing with the valves, and decided to eat a quick snack and head back towards Pemberton. I skirted the tents on my way out and made sure to make some noise, hopefully scaring away any animals in the vicinity.

Thankfully I didn’t see the bear upon return to the bridge, and started the return journey home. But, foreshadowing here, this was not the last time I’d see a bear today.

The Journey Home

Only 70 more kilometres to go! Considering this was an out and back journey, I knew what was in store on the way back to Pemberton. Luckily, I knew that meant it was time to enjoy the 40km descent that I had battled on the way here, and the remaining flat 30km in the Pemberton Meadows!

The journey to Meager Creek from Pemberton took about 3.5 hours total, while the return journey was 2.75 hours, knocking 45 minutes off! While I was pretty tired from the bike ride already, this just goes to show what a downhill track can do for you on a bicycle.

I will say, the detriment of taking the same route home was having all those same worries as taking the route out to Meager. I was going along the same landslide-prone routes, still with no cell reception, and still in grizzly country. The bear dung on the way had seemed to multiply as well, which probably was just a joke my mind was playing on itself.

Becca did know my route, and we had a cut-off time later in the day where she would begin to reach out and trying to get a hold of me, or in the worst case, start the search for me. But the intent is to make it home in one piece, and that’s what I planned to do.

The Bear

While blasting back to Pemberton along the FSR, I was coming around a bend in the road when a large black bear appeared about 10 metres in front of me. This guy was large, but not in charge. There I was, coming about 25km/hr around the bend onto this unsuspecting bear. I believe he was as scared of me as I was of him, as after maybe half a second of him registering me, he took off like a bullet down the road before veering into the forest. That same half-second was me trying to brake, as to not run head first into the bear. Luckily, he had a quicker ‘flight’ reaction time than I did, and not a ‘fight’ reaction.

Being the second run in with a black bear on the ride, I was pretty rattled and kept up a good pace for the rest of the ride before exiting the FSR. I can only wonder at how a grizzly bear would have reacted in that same scenario, and I’m glad I didn’t have to find out.

Sustenance

Another factor on a longer ride out in the wilderness is packing all your gear for the entire trip. Over the length of the ride, I had drank all 3 water bottles, and was completely out of food when I hit the gate signifying 30km remaining. And I was thirsty.

The Lillooet River was running beside me as a water source, but truthfully the water was not a colour I thought proper to drink. It was more of a muddy brown than a crystal blue.

Usually on over 100km rides, there’s a nice café stop for a sandwich, a refill on the bottles, maybe some caffeine. Out here in the wilderness north of Pemberton? Nothing like that exists. You pack in what you need, and if you’re short, deal with it.

Friendly Pemby

Luckily, I ran into two women close to the gate that had just returned from a small hike. They waved me down and asked about my ride, and I ended up getting a refill of my water bottles from their own bottles! Locals to Pemberton Meadows having lived in the area for decades, they made sure I was stocked up and would make it back to Pemberton without toppling over from dehydration. They also joked about how they would have no issue drinking the Lillooet water if it came down to it, but wouldn’t recommend it to any non-locals.

I have met some incredibly kind and generous people out in British Columbia, the type to give without asking for anything in return. It makes me think of ways that I can improve my generosity in day to day life, and I strive to be more like the people in these interactions into the future.

I know these specific women will likely not be reading this, but that water was a massive blessing on my day! Dehydration levels were high, and this got me through the final 30km and home safely. I can’t thank you two enough!

Ending the Meager Creek Tour

On the return to Pemberton, I ate too much McDonalds, and spent the rest of the day trying to rehydrate. What a ride, and what an experience.

It’s funny, I started out writing this today expecting to make it another “Meager Creek and Mt. Currie – Week 5” post. But there was so much to write about this one adventure, it turned into its own destination spotlight. And I hope you enjoyed reading about it! As I’m sure my mom didn’t. But, mom, I’m here writing this. So, logically, I made it through unscathed.

This ride will go down as one of the most dangerous and fear-inducing adventures I’ve ever accomplished, and I hope to tell this story into the future. Perhaps the only thing that has topped this on the trip is my time spent joining a random group and attempting to summit Triple Peak, but that is a story for a later date.

Thanks again for reading, and see you next week where I discuss Becca and I’s attempt at climbing Mount Currie, and a few other adventures!