Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park Campground

We arrived mid-week around 1130 and had no trouble finding a spot, I’d say we had our pick of 15+ of the FCFS sites. It was full by late afternoon. Some sites are better than others, but most of them would have been pretty easy to fit our 32’ fifth wheel. Sites had nice vegetation between. Walk to the hot springs was about 10 min, we went twice while we were there.

They accept credit card with a $2 transaction fee, or cash. Overflow had quite a few ppl in it when we left the next morning. Seemed like a lot of turnover each day, I wouldn’t plan on spending more than one day myself.

First come first serve on half the sites, the rest are booked months in advance. Get there early in the day if you don't have a reservation, park ranger said that people are lined up at the gate at 7am when it opens.
Campground in surrounded by electric fence with gates that close at 10pm and open at 7am. The hot springs are outside of the fence so bring bear spray.
Some sites are challenging to get into if your rig is long like mine and roads are not wide so it may take some back and forth to get in. Several are sloped toward the road, so it's a crap shoot as to which one you get.
Walk on past the hot springs, up the board walk to the hanging gardens, it's worth the extra short hike up the stairs.

Starlink was a challenge with obstructions due to the trees but I'll take trees any day to spend time at this wonderful stress reducing place.

Lots of good information in previous reviews.

We did not have reservations but knew there were some FCFS sites. We arrived about 9:00 and the attendent told us we were not allowed to enter the campground until 10:00. She suggested we pay the day use fee, park in the day use area and then at 10:00 head into the campground. We parked and scouted out possible sites. There only 6 sites that looked like they would be available, 2 were double sites.

In the end, more sites opened up and we had no problem getting a great site. The campground did fill up and interestingly, most of the spots were taken by BC residents mid week.

We enjoyed the hot springs!

As other reviewers have stated this is a must stop when driving the alcan. We have a 43 ft fifth wheel and checked out the FCFS sites when we arrived. There were some we could have made it work in but honestly it wasn’t worth it. So we decided to save ourselves the hassle and go to the overflow lot, which we should’ve done right away. Even saw some fire pits over there. Several other large rigs were searching for a good site in the campground only to end up in the overflow lot as well.
Some campground sites actually would have been a further walk to the springs than the overflow lot. The $26 nightly rate covered both our entrance fees to the springs, which felt like heaven after driving all day. No signal with ATT or Verizon.

We overnighted at Liard River on our way to Alaska. Our site was nice and roomy, with a picnic table, fire pit and plenty of room to spread out. There is a bathhouse near the hot springs pool, pit toilets, campfire rings, and picnic areas. The hot springs pool is the main attraction and wildlife viewing.

No hookups or dump station at this park. There are two hand pumps for water. They do take reservations and they also have first-come, first-served sites. We will definitely stay at Liard River Hot Springs again when traveling to Alaska. This is a MUST do if you are traveling to Alaska.

There's a reason this park has so many reviews on Campendium in spite of the distance to get here from anywhere! The park is neat and clean with gravel roads and pads, firepits and heavy tables at each site. About half of the sites are reservable, and when we stayed here June 2nd & 3rd, all of the reserved sites were gone when I checked several days prior. We intentionally scheduled a short day for our arrival, arriving about noon which worked to our benefit. By the end of the day the park was full as was the overflow parking across the road.

What sets Liard River apart from any other northern B.C. Provincial Parks is the hot springs. (There is also a large parking lot for day use if you want to enjoy the hot springs and keep on going.) We were here for one night six years ago and built our travel plan around a layover day here.

The campground is nice and well-maintained. Sites didn't feel narrow, cramped, or too close to any others, and they were quite clean. Pit toilets and trash bins in a few spots, and some potable water pumps. You can walk to the hot springs from the campground. You can buy bundles of firewood for $8. Didn't get any, so I'm not sure how big a bundle is. There were only 4 sites available when we arrived around 3 pm at the beginning of June. I heard the ranger say they fill up most days by then. I recommend arriving earlier or grabbing a reservation (only about half the sites are reservable. The rest are FCFS). If they fill up, there is an overflow lot across the street. It costs the same to stay there.

The hot springs are absolutely the reason you stop here. You could get a day pass rather than pay the camping fee, and the day-use lot has some space for RVs. Not sure what the day-use fee was, but the camping fee includes hot springs use, so it seemed worth it. Camping on site also allows you to go to the springs after-hours (after 11 pm or before 6 am).

The hot springs are incredible. Definitely the nicest I've ever visited. One side has changing rooms, bench seats, and steps for pool access. The other side and further downstream are all natural, though. It makes for a great setting. The upper pool is a bit hotter than the lower. In the lower pool, you can follow the water downstream, and it cools off the further you go.

No cell reception or wifi. Didn't have any connectivity until we reached Watson Lake. Fuel was available at Liard, but we drove about 30 miles down the road to get it, and it was a bit cheaper (still more expensive than Watson Lake, though).

The campground and Hot Springs at this Provincial Park are not to be passed, something that I've done many times before but never again. I've always heard had great of a Hot Springs this place had, but I finally stopped in to see what the fuss was all about, and all the fuss was true. You don't have to stay at the campground to enjoy the hot springs, but you will have to buy a day pass to use them. The campground itself is in great shape, and the site maintenance guys even rake the sights to give them an even better appearance. Some sites can be reserved, however there is plenty of first come, first serve sites also. If you need to fuel up in this area you can do so across the road at the lodge, however I would only get enough to allow arrival in Watson Lake if your headed north, where it will be about .65/liter cheaper.

While in the middle of nowhere, with zero cell service on any carrier, no wifi... this was my jam. The campground is 1/2 reservable and 1/2 FCFS. Ever since we moved into our RV 2 years ago, this was one of the places on my HAVE TO list. It didn’t disappoint.

The sites are partial to wholly shaded and well-maintained. There are vault toilets, and camping comes with 24-hour access to the springs. The cost is CAD $26/night. There seems to be a free lot across the street where you can overnight. Then I think it’s CAD $10/carload for the use of the spring.

There’s a boardwalk out to the springs where you’ll find changing rooms and three vault toilets in another building. There are no showers here. The springs themselves are natural. They don’t add chlorine or other chemicals to the water. The banks are plants and dirt.

The mainspring has small stones covering the bottom. The cooler pool has more of a rock/mud mixture on the bottom. The water does smell of sulfur, but it isn’t as bad as Pagosa Springs and doesn’t linger on your skin.

Past the springs, there’s a short walk and some stairs to the hanging gardens. It’s worth a stroll to check them out.