Post Last Modified – August 17, 2025 ¦ gr8traveltips.com
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Beautiful Horne Lake Regional Park
If you’re traveling to Vancouver Island in British Columbia and especially if you love the outdoors and camping, then simply must include …
Horne Lake Regional Park
in your your travel plans.
First, check out my short video clip of the lake itself and surrounding area.
Horne Lake – YouTube Video
Getting To Horne Lake Regional Park
Getting to the park is easy and accessible for all types of vehicles and RV’s. If you’re traveling north on the main Highway 19, continue for about 23 kilometers from the city of Parksville.
You will come to a Petro Canada Service Station located at Horne Lake Rd. There are signs posted indicating Horne Lake Caves prior to the intersection. You will then continue for approximately 13 kilometers on unpaved road to the park entrance.
The Lake is roughly 6.4 km (4 miles) long and 1.2 km wide (1.2 miles) you will travel alongside, as you make your way to the park entrance. Records show that the lake’s deepest depth is about 50 meters/164 feet.
It is a beautiful crystal clear lake with huge picturesque limestone cliffs on one side. These cliffs are called the Amphitheatre.
As well, this is where Horne Lake Caves Provincial Park is located, just adjacent to the park and campground area. These beautiful cliffs make up part of the Provincial Park and attract climbers of all sorts to the area.
🟩 Check out the {Google Map} box at the bottom of this post for the exact location. 🟩
Brief History Of Horne Lake
This area was originally a section of a trail used by the Qualicum Indigenous People to travel between communities from the east to the west sides of Vancouver Island.
In 1856, as part of expanding fur-trade operations, Adam Grant Horne, a Hudson’s Bay Company explorer, was sent to inspect this trail. His journey confirmed the trail’s value and led to the lake being renamed Horne Lake.
In the 1920s, heavy logging occurred in the area, making this region a hot bed of activity, attracting hundreds of people. There was also a railway built to transport the logs from the area.
The west end of Horne Lake at the time was booming, with a sawmill, bunkhouses, cookhouse, school, and other facilities for the many workers employed and their families.
In 1941, the Horne Lake Caves became popular with more discoveries made by local loggers. In 1971, these amazing caves became a protected Provincial Park.
Today, visitors can enjoy a variety of guided tours to various sections of the caves.
There is also a small section you can visit on your own, along with a fairly steep interpretive hike inside the park itself.
We enjoyed a nice leisurely morning hike on this trail, with stops along the way to read the many informative postings along the way.
Horne Lake Regional Park Camping
The park campground is actually divided into 2 sections, separated by the Qualicum River. There’s the North Park section, which is at the main entrance and where the check-in office is located.
The main beach, day use picnic areas and boat launch are located in this section.
There’s a wide variety of campsites to choose from, for campers of all types. From premium waterfront sites, to more rustic treed camping sites that are great for those with tents.
If you continue a short distance past the main entrance, traveling over the small bridge, you will come to the South Park.
The South Park is more rustic in sections, but most sites in the Paradise Bay Campground portion are waterfront sites. The Twin Pines section is more wide open, with large grassed sites.
It’s just a matter of checking out each individual campsite if/when making your advance reservations.
This is a more rustic heavily wooded campground and dry camping only. There are clean and well maintained pitted toilets throughout the park. There is one and one only potable water tap.
This tap is located beside the registration office at the main entrance. The office offers a small convenience store along with canoe/kayak and paddle board rentals and firewood.
There is cell service in the area, with intermittent service depending where you’re standing in the park.
Special Note:
There are signs warning of swimmers itch (duck itch) to be aware of when swimming. We swam everyday, but made sure we dried ourselves completely each time. We had no problems on our visit and saw many others enjoying the water for hours.
Horne Lake Regional Park Hiking Trails
Within the park, there are a number of easy walking trails to discover. Some are short nature trails in the forest and others are out in the open, for you to enjoy a pleasant walk. Great if you have pets along with you.
You can take a trail directly from the campground to the Horne Lake Caves Provincial Park.
If you love the outdoors and a more rustic camping atmosphere, this is a beautiful area on the island to explore.
The lake is superb for enjoying many water activities, lots of easy hiking trails and of course, the very popular Horne Lake Caves experience is steps away.
Below, I’ve included the Horne Lake Regional Park website, where you can access more detailed information. I’ve also added the Horne Lake Caves official website for your convenience.
Regional District of Nanaimo – Horne Lake
Horne Lake Caves Provincial Park
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Did You Know …
“The very first Sasquatch sighting was actually near Horne Lake back in 1904.”
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