Historic Pilot Bay Lighthouse

The historic Pilot Bay Lighthouse, in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, dates back to the early 1900s and remained in use for almost ninety years. Post retirement it’s been preserved in place on a point overlooking gorgeous Kootenay Lake and easily reached via a short hiking trail. Spectacular scenery, a blast of lake air, and a little history awaits those who pay it a visit.

Access is off the marked Pilot Bay Lighthouse trail, off Pilot Bay Road and very near where it dead-ends. Pilot Bay Road branches off right at the ferry landing on Highway #3A and given the immediate area can be chaotic, especially if there’s a vessel docked, it can be easily missed. If you end up in a place called Crawford Bay or float across the lake and find yourself in Balfour you’ve missed the mark and should hang you head in shame.

It’s a quick uphill hike to the lighthouse through the cool forest. The building soon comes in to view, then look out over the water and be in awe. The lake is long, aligns north/south and even though relatively narrow, the opposite shore is still many kilometres away. Flanked by steep mountains, as it is, might have you thinking you’re along some Norwegian fjord. That’s no and instead you’re at a deep, cold lake in the wilds of BC.

The lake can be busy with pleasure craft and if you’re lucky you might spot the ferry too. The trip takes just over half an hour and feels more like an ocean voyage than a short little hop across the water. We rode the Osprey 2000 to get to Pilot Bay – it’s a free ride and an essential link in the highway’s system. It’s the only way across the middle portion of Kootenay Lake (it’s over 100km end to end) and can be a busy place in summer.

The Pilot Bay Lighthouse came on line in 1905 and assisted with navigation of commercial traffic. Mostly this comprised the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Lake Fleet, but there were other operators at times as well. The CPR remained the big player, however, and plied the lake from end to end and acted as a lifeline to the outside world.

They not only carried travellers but facilitated the delivery of freight to outlying communities. Even railcars were barged up and down Kootenay Lake to isolated lines and spurs. With the area rich with resources, timber and metallic minerals, there was a lot going on.

Over the years the need for the lighthouse diminished and by the the early 1990s it was decommissioned. The CPR stopped serving the lake in the late 1970s, but it was kept active for use by the general public for a time, till the end came. Sure, the lake is busier than ever, with pleasure craft, but they usually don’t travel at night anyway or have high-tech on-board navigation aids.

After retirement, the lighthouse was fixed up and is now part of the Pilot Bay Provincial Park (there’s another chunk of it across the bay). That it remained in use so long meant the building was kept up to the end, so not a daunting task to restore. Still, it required many volunteers, countless hours and financial help from donors.

While getting it ready they put in picnic tables, added a biffy to the site and made the building visitor friendly. It’s the last remaining inland lighthouse in British Columbia and that alone makes it a special place. Even today, it’s a visible landmark for boaters out on the lake.

A set of steep stairs take one up to the lantern room and an outside balcony. There’s even better views up there! Light was by oil and later acetylene lamps, but later still they were battery powered. By the late 1980s batteries were recharged by solar power.

The lighthouse was manned early on, but soon functions were automated. In this later scenario an attendant would drop by from time to time, to check on things and top off any tanks (pre-electrical phase), but otherwise only the occasional curious visitor stopped by.

It appears the doors were kept unlocked and this is suggested by information found on a sign inside. It reads like this:

Department of Transport, Aids to Navigation Branch, Pilot Bay Lighthouse. This important aid to Navigation was established in 1905. It originally had an oil lamp to guide the paddle wheel steamers on Kootenay Lake and from its vantage point serves as aid to navigation for most of the lake.

The light is now a 3.05 amp 12 volt bulb in a 250 millimetre lantern. Powered by two six volt battery packs, a photo-electric cell shuts off the light during daylight hours to conserve power. The light has a characteristic of one second light and eleven second dark and should a lamp burn out, the four position lamp-changer automatically moves the next lamp into the focal position

If you wish to see the equipment, feel free to enter but don’t damage of adjust the equipment, which is very delicate. Please close the doors on leaving. Thank you. Superintendent of lights.

That’s the most Canadian thing ever – welcome and come look around, but be nice.

From this promontory, the lighthouse is visible to approaching craft on all three arms of Kootenay Lake. The west branch is much narrower and visible off in the distance in one of our photos on the west shore. Kootenay Lake is part of the Kootenay River watershed and the river enters at the south and exits off the west end.

The Pilot Bay Lighthouse is painted in traditional white with red and easily spotted from the Kootenay Bay-Balfour Ferry. It’s on a jut of land that makes up Pilot Bay (east of a lighthouse and unseen from this position) and it’s the most sheltered inlet on the lake. Should a storm whip up it’s a safe spot for ship’s pilots to wait out the weather. The lake is so large and can sometimes have a bad attitude.

The lighthouse has been historically recognized by the province since the 1960s.

Know more (new window): Pilot Bay BC Lighthouse.

They’re saying…

“Best little bit of history in Western Canada…if you love our history this site is worth exploring.” Brian Holt.

Beautiful British Columbia…
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Devil’s Hole (East Kootenay BC)
A Tour of Sandon BC.
Three Bridges.

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Date of Adventure: May, 2023.
Location(s): Pilot Bay, BC.
Article references and thanks: Canada’s Historic Places – HistoricPlaces.ca, Friends of West Kootenay Parks, LighthouseFriends.com and BC Parks.

We’re out in BC and on the Kootenay Lake Ferry.

Our destination is the Historic Pilot Bay Lighthouse.

After a short walk, we’ve arrived.

Narrow stairs up.

It’s stood here since the early 1900s.

A stunning view of Kootenay Lake – west arm opposite shore.

The Osprey 2000 comes into frame.

Last used in the 1990s, it’s been lovingly preserved.

The trail to the lighthouse is short and pleasant.