Buntzen Lake, once named Trout Lake and later Lake Beautiful (by a group of hikers) was named Buntzen Lake in 1905 in honour of the first general manager of the BC Electric Railway Co., Johannes Buntzen.Buntzen Lake is a hydroelectric reservoir that was once Vancouver’s main electricity source.

Today, the Lake Buntzen Power Plant produces less than 0.4% of the

power produced by the generating facilities owned by BC Hydro.

However it has the distinction of being the first hydroelectric

generating plant to supply the Lower Mainland of BC.

 In the early years it was considered to be an engineering marvel and

 after over 100 years still produces inexpensive power.  In 1972,

 BC Hydro completed the formal development and beautification

of the Buntzen Lake Reservoir Recreation Area.

NOTE: Buntzen Lake can get very busy, especially on sunny summer weekends.

Even with roughly 600 parking spaces, once its full, their policy is

 to stop letting people in for safety reasons.

 If it’s a weekend or holiday and the weather is gorgeous,

get to the lake before 11:00 (I have even seen it full at 10:30),

so just get there early so you can enjoy your day.

 That being said, sometimes they reopen the gate in the early afternoon –

 you can call ahead to check).

If you’re driving with GPS, use the address 3298 Sunnyside Road,

Anmore (this would be the address for the park entrance if the park had an address !). 

 The parking lots are 2 km from the park entrance. 

You’ll likely lose cell reception shortly after entering the park

 – NOTE – To get good cell reception,

you’ll have to do some hiking; reception is good on the Buntzen Ridge 

 (Diez Vistas Trail) and on Eagle Mountain.

Buntzen Lake

infohttp://www.buntzenlake.ca/ from

2014 08 04