Craig Johnston Personal Real Estate Corporation · Brokerage: Royal LePage Elite West
At a glance
Quick Answer
What do you need to know before visiting təmtəmíxʷtən/Belcarra Regional Park?
The park opens at 7 a.m., with closing time posted at the gates. From April 1 to September 30 parking is paid ($3.25/hour or $18.50/day in 2026), and there's no parking on Bedwell Bay Road or anywhere in Belcarra village. There are no lifeguards at any beach. Leashed dogs are welcome on trails but not at White Pine Beach.
Craig's insider intel
I hike Belcarra year-round — usually Admiralty Point because the inlet views from The Point never get old, and you can stop at Cod Rock or take a private bluff scramble along the way. In summer my family makes a weekday tradition of it: come up after work, picnic dinner at the Belcarra picnic area or White Pine, swim while the sun's still up. Sasamat is our go-to freshwater swim — by late June it is comfortable for the kids.
For Father's Day, the move is Jug Island. ~2 hours round trip, leashed dogs allowed the whole way, and you finish on a small pebble beach with a view of the island. Pack a sandwich and you'll be back before dinner.
REALTOR® V99960 · 47+ years in the Tri-Cities · trail-runs Mundy & hikes Belcarra weekly
Book a strategy call →Trails — what's here, what's worth it
Every trail in the park, with verified distance, difficulty, dog policy, and what you actually find at the end. Pick the one that fits the day.
The weekday tradition
When the weather turns in late June, Belcarra becomes the easiest weekday family dinner in the Tri-Cities. Pack a cooler, head up after work, eat at the picnic area or White Pine, swim while the kids still have light. The trick: come on a Tuesday or Wednesday, not a weekend. Weekend lots are full by mid-morning.
Swim spots & beaches
Belcarra has three swim spots and they're each different. White Pine is the warm freshwater family swim. The Picnic Area is the saltwater inlet swim. Jug Island is the trail-reward swim.
Practical info
The stuff that determines whether your visit goes well. Saved here so you don't have to dig through Metro Vancouver's site.
| Item | What applies | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Opening time | 7 a.m. daily; closing time posted at entrances (earliest 5 p.m.) | Metro Vancouver brochure |
| Pay parking season | April 1 – September 30; $3.25/hour or $18.50/day (2026); check posted hours | Metro Vancouver / Tri-City News |
| Parking rates | Pay parking applies in season; rates are posted at the pay stations and on Metro Vancouver’s parking page | Tri-City News |
| Lots | White Pine Beach, Belcarra Picnic Area, Woodhaven Swamp | Tri-City News |
| Street parking | None on Bedwell Bay Road near Sasamat; Belcarra village is permit-only | Metro Vancouver / Village of Belcarra |
| Lifeguards | None at any park beach | Metro Vancouver brochure |
| Dogs | Leashed on trails; banned at White Pine Beach, Floatwalk decks, most Sasamat pocket beaches | Metro Vancouver brochure |
| Picnic shelters | Two at Belcarra Picnic Area, 75 people each; book at 604-432-6352 | Metro Vancouver brochure |
| Transit | 182 Moody Centre Station/Belcarra (year-round); 150 White Pine Beach (seasonal) | TransLink |
Sources: Metro Vancouver Regional Parks brochure (Dec 2022), Metro Vancouver 2021 traffic advisory, Tri-City News, Village of Belcarra, TransLink. Rates and dates change — check posted signs.
Every route into the park funnels through Port Moody's Ioco Road and Bedwell Bay Road, so where you start in the Tri-Cities changes how you should plan the trip.
The closest city by road and the only one with a year-round bus: TransLink's 182 runs from Moody Centre Station into Belcarra.
In summer, the seasonal 150 runs from Coquitlam Central Station to White Pine Beach — a car-free option on weekends when the lots fill.
There's no direct bus from PoCo; connect to the 150 at Coquitlam Central or the 182 at Moody Centre, or drive early, before the lots fill.
Anmore borders the park, but public street parking in the village is reduced year-round, so visitors still need the park lots.
Residents and registered guests get free village parking passes from the Village Office; everyone else must use the regional park lots.
təmtəmíxʷtən · "the biggest place for all the people"
təmtəmíxʷtən is a hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ word meaning "the biggest place for all the people". It was a primary winter village of the səlilwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nation — and the archaeological record at site DhRr 6 documents deposits dating back roughly 3,300 years, with shell middens carrying ~3,000 years of stratified record and abundant salmon vertebrae dating Coast Salish fishery stewardship back to roughly 850 BC.
In October 2021, Metro Vancouver Regional Parks formally renamed the park to təmtəmíxʷtən / Belcarra Regional Park in recognition of that history. This isn't a "former" presence — Tsleil-Waututh have lived here, fished here, and gathered here continuously for thousands of years. Takaya Tours, a Tsleil-Waututh-owned operation based at the Belcarra Paddling Centre, runs cultural canoe tours that surface the history of the place in the words of the people whose territory it is.
Source: peer-reviewed archaeological research (PLOS ONE 2023), Tsleil-Waututh Nation, and Metro Vancouver Regional Parks.
The park opens at 7 a.m., and Metro Vancouver posts the closing time at each park entrance — it changes with the season but is never earlier than 5 p.m. Gates are locked after closing, so watch the posted time if you're finishing a late swim at White Pine Beach or a sunset walk from the Picnic Area. If your car does get locked in, the Village of Belcarra directs people to Metro Vancouver's after-hours line at 604-432-9483.
Pay parking runs from April 1 to September 30, and there's no charge outside that season. Metro Vancouver's 2026 rate is $3.25 an hour or $18.50 a day. In recent seasons fees have applied from 10 a.m., with earlier arrivals parking free, but check the signs because posted times can change. Fees are collected at the White Pine Beach, Belcarra Picnic Area and Woodhaven Swamp lots. Machines take cards, not cash, and you can also pay by app or phone. Confirm the rate on the signs when you arrive.
Nowhere nearby — when the lots fill, the gates close and you'll need to come back later or try another day. There's no parking on Bedwell Bay Road near Sasamat Lake, and the Village of Belcarra has no public parking at all: village streets are permit-only for residents and their registered guests, and tickets start at $100. On a hot summer weekend, arriving before 10 a.m., coming midweek or taking the bus is the realistic plan.
Yes. TransLink's year-round 182 Moody Centre Station/Belcarra runs from the Millennium Line at Moody Centre into Belcarra. In summer, the seasonal 150 White Pine Beach/Coquitlam Central Station runs to the beach from Coquitlam Central — In 2026 it ran from April 20 until the September 7 service change, and TransLink typically brings it back each summer. Check TransLink's schedule before you go, because the 150's dates and days change each year.
No. Metro Vancouver doesn't staff lifeguards at any beach in the park, including White Pine Beach on Sasamat Lake — swimming anywhere in Belcarra is at your own risk. White Pine is the sandy freshwater beach most families use, while the Picnic Area shoreline and Jug Island Beach are cold saltwater. If you're bringing young kids, plan on hands-on supervision and bring your own life jackets.
No. Dogs are prohibited at White Pine Beach, on the swimming and fishing decks of the Sasamat Lake Floatwalk, and at most of the small pocket beaches along Sasamat Lake. Everywhere else in the park they're welcome on a leash, and Metro Vancouver asks owners to bag waste and use the dog-waste bins. If your plan is a swim day with the dog along, the Belcarra Picnic Area side of the park works better than Sasamat.
The Belcarra Picnic Area has two picnic shelters, each holding up to 75 people, plus picnic tables, washrooms, a wharf and floats. Metro Vancouver's brochure says to book a shelter by calling 604-432-6352. It's also the only spot in the park where fires are allowed — in the designated fire ring only — and liquor, cannabis, camping and smoking (outside designated areas) aren't permitted anywhere in the park.
Yes. Canoeing and kayaking are permitted on Sasamat Lake and in Belcarra Bay, and the Belcarra Picnic Area has a wharf and floats. Fishing needs the right licence: a BC freshwater (non-tidal) licence for Sasamat Lake, and a federal tidal licence for the ocean side. Shellfish harvesting is prohibited in Burrard Inlet and Indian Arm, so leave the clams and oysters where they are.
The closest homes are in the Village of Belcarra itself, in Anmore, and in Port Moody's north-shore neighbourhoods along the Ioco Road and Bedwell Bay Road route into the park. For September 2026, the Greater Vancouver REALTORS® detached benchmark was $3,063,700 in Anmore (−3.7% year over year) and $1,903,500 for Port Moody detached. Belcarra trades too rarely for a published benchmark, so I price it sale by sale. Book a strategy call and I'll compare the three for your budget.
Companion reads
Trail deep-dive
Per-trail breakdowns, parking realities, the local's read.
Adjacent park
BC Hydro's busiest rec area. Reservation system + trail rundown.
Neighbourhood
The closest residential pocket to Belcarra trails and Sasamat Lake.
Neighbourhood
Indian Arm waterfront homes. 1-acre minimums. The exclusive read.
Buying or selling near here?
Homes near the park are priced partly for that access, and prices differ a lot between Anmore and Belcarra waterfront even where trail access is similar. Book a 20-minute strategy call and I'll show you what's actually moving in each pocket.
Continue your research
Master guide
Indian Arm waterfront, the regional park, low-turnover inventory.
Price bands
Indian Arm waterfront — the honest tier-by-tier read.
Lifestyle
Dock, foreshore, the regional park as backyard.
Access types
The structural choice between Belcarra waterfront types.
Tri-Cities monthly
September 2026 Coquitlam detached HPI is $1,584,400, -6.6% YoY. What that means for your buy or sell decision — without the salesy fluff. One email per month. Unsubscribe anytime.
No spam, no listings flood, no marketing automation games. Genuine monthly update from a 47+ year Tri-Cities resident.
Living near Belcarra is a different trade-off than living near a city park. Here's how I work through it with buyers before they write an offer.
Every trip into the park runs along Ioco Road and Bedwell Bay Road, so I check how a home's location sits relative to that corridor. I look at whether you'd walk, bike or drive to White Pine Beach or the Picnic Area, and how long that drive takes at the times you'd actually go.
Pay parking, full lots and closed gates draw lineups on hot weekends, and there's no parking on Bedwell Bay Road near Sasamat. I visit a short-listed street on a busy Saturday so you see the traffic and parking pressure firsthand rather than learning it after you've moved in.
Anmore and Port Moody have published Greater Vancouver REALTORS® benchmarks; Belcarra doesn't, because so few homes trade. I pull recent comparable sales in each so you can see what similar homes have sold for, not what a listing says they're worth.
Village-specific items matter here: Belcarra's permit-only street parking, Anmore's reduced public parking, and any services, setbacks or wildlife considerations on the lot. I flag what needs confirming with the municipality, the lender or an inspector before your subjects are removed, so there are no surprises after you move in.
If you'd like to see how this kind of planning plays out, read my Tri-Cities case studies. Read the Tri-Cities case studies →
5.0 stars across 36+ verified Google reviews. Three from recent clients below.
“Craig worked with my wife and me for over 3 years to find the perfect home. He was endlessly patient with us through the process. Eventually, we found our perfect home and he moved fast to execute on our behalf. He negotiated fairly and thoroughly with the sellers and was our advocate all throughout our first home purchase.”David Catterall
“Craig kept me informed of the local market for a couple of years before I asked him to handle my Coquitlam sale. He laid out the strategy upfront, the listing generated a lot of interest, and we had an acceptable offer in under a month. I was stressed going in — Craig helped me overcome a lot of my anxiety. I’ve already introduced him to my sister, who plans to sell soon.”Fj Young
“Craig was there with us everyday. Guiding us to our next step we were kept informed daily sometimes multiple times a day as to what was happening… Our home sold in only 6 days with multiple offers.”Gerry & Aline Howitson
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