Pitt River - Port Coquitlam
The Lower Pitt River is not accorded its proper place in the annals of riverdom, being as it is so short. Though as wide as any respectable river and so tempestuous as to warrant the building of huge dykes in the region, the Pitt River's majesty is drowned when it reaches the Fraser River, not more than a few kilometers downstream from where the river Pitt derives from Pitt Lake.
Pitt River Boat Launches
You can launch your boat into the Pitt River from underneath the Pitt River Bridge, or at the launch at the east end of Lincoln Ave (turn off Prairie Ave onto Devon Rd) where the DeBoville Slough empties into the river.
Boating to Pitt River and Pitt Lake
Boating up the Fraser River from its estuaries near the Vancouver International Airport, you'll pass under the Alex Fraser Bridge, then New Westminster's Patullo Bridge, and then under the Port Mann Bridge connecting Surrey with Coquitlam. You've just passed into Vancouver's backyard. Turn up the huge river on your left, which you might have mistaken for a branch of the Fraser. You're on the Pitt, which you'll notice is still lined with pilings from the logging boom (they're still used) and a system of tall dykes that make for great walking trails with river and mountain views.
After you pass under the Pitt River Bridge, there are tributaries to explore, if you have a shallower craft - canoes and kayaks are ideal in here. The Alouette River flows in from Pitt Meadows on the east bank; and to your left, Port Coquitlam's DeBoville Slough is a beautiful wetlands area with a boat harbour.
Continue up the Pitt River and you'll pass Goose Island (aka Goose Bar), a small, treeless place with a nice sandy beach. Finally, you'll wind back and forth between rocky foothills, the first tangible signs of the mountains you're about to pass between. Then it's the home stretch up the final, most beautiful part of the (Lower) Pitt River. The last thing on your left is Widgeon Valley and Slough, a favourite local canoeing spot, and then you're lost in the largest tidal lake in North America - the estimable Pitt Lake.
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