Qwolts/Hobo Hot Springs / Harrison Hot Springs (British Columbia Canada)

The Hotsprings of the town of Harrison Hot Springs consist of two geo-thermal vent outlets creating the hot springs. Sts’ailes First Nation people have stories of their ancestors coming to these waters to soak and heal within. According to Sts’ailes Grand Chief William Charlie, the waters are healing and medicinal. Their people have been using these waters for tens of thousands of years. They called the waters Qwolts, meaning boiling medicine water. The natural hobo hot spring pools, the resort, and the city pool are fed by the hot springs Potash (approximately 40 degrees Celsius) and Sulphur (approximately 65 degrees Celsius). It is claimed that these hot springs have the highest concentration of minerals of any springs found in British Columbia.

The town is known for its hot springs. Unfortunately, the springs seem to be maintained and controlled by a private resort affecting this Canadian natural resource. The village of the same name, Harrison Hot Springs is an artistic touristy village full of folklore, recreation, and entertainment on the shores of Harrison Lake.

It is located approximately 130 km east of Vancouver, British Columbia. Locals and visitors commonly use the natural pools alongside the spring head that is contained within an armored cement building capping it and controlled by Harrison Hot Springs Resorts. To utilize the official springs, they want visitors to book rooms at the hotel at outrageous prices as they say they don’t have the resources and staff to handle day visitors. They manage the town’s Mineral Pool downtown though making it look like it belongs to the village and is run by the Town. This is not true, it is run by the Resort as well, is a basic swimming pool with heated water running into it, and they charge $16 CDN for a visitor to use. The hours are minimal, the place is understaffed, and they often have notes on the door stating they are closed or over-capacity. Its quite a thorn for the village which would prosper if free pools or more publically accessible pools were available.

Harrison Hot Springs Resort
The resort boasts 5 indoor rejuvenating mineral pools (swimming pools) that guests of the resort/hotel can use. The public cannot use these pools. Day tripping is not available. They boast famous guests such as Clark Gable, John Wayne, Michael Bublé, Robin Williams, and Liam Neeson have visited their pools. Each pool is kept at a different temperature. They claim them as “natural pools” but they are concrete/manufactured indoor pools. The only natural pools are the Hobo Hot Springs at the Spring Source adjacent to the resort property, the waters leased from the resort. They claim on their site that the waters average 1,300 parts per million of dissolved mineral solids, one of the highest of concentrations for any mineral spring. These are notoriously believed to be good for impurities through the skin, bowels, and kidneys. Two of their pools are indoor, and three are outdoor. The indoor sitting pool is cooled to 100-103 Fahrenheit (38-40 Celsius). The indoor crescent pool is maintained at 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius). The two outdoor pools are built with cascading waterfalls and rock formations. The outside sitting pool is adult-only, with hot spring waters piped from the source and cooled to 90-95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius). The larger outdoor family pool is also at 95 degrees with a gently sloping ramp and a deck made of non-slip, frost-proof clay tile heated by hot water tubing. Outdoor lap pool is at 87 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius).

Harrison Hobo Hot Springs
Hobo Hotsprings is a common tourist name for hot spring pools manipulated and crafted by local visitors to a hot spring source. The Hobo hot springs alongside the town of Harrison Hotsprings is just one such namesake, and as of November 2024 – it has been filled in with boulders and earth to discourage visitors from soaking in the pools for free. Notary blame goes to Harrison Hot Springs Hotel and Resort which charges outrageous hotel room fees to use the waters which are fed from the licensed source from the government to the hotel. No official permit or permission was given in November for this activity of filling in the pools or moving the stones. The last permit was made in May 2024 for the city to come in and improve and repair the free pools.

The resort did not like this and someone from the resort is believed to have done this damage. The resort, run by Aldesta Hotels & Resorts a subsidiary of Saliance Global Holdings Co., did not comment on their contributions to the crime to the Press. Change.org petition did get in touch with the general manager and they confessed to the crime. They claimed it was for liability reasons. https://www.change.org/p/restore-the-outdoor-hot-spring-pools-qw%C3%B3lts-at-harrison-hot-springs/u/33001642 and was triggered by a blogger promoting the free pools and therefore deterring visitors from booking rooms at the resort. According to the Mayor, the resort stated they were concerned about the materials being brought in to build up the Hobo Hot Spring pools since it is next to their building capping the main source. The pools are also home to small fish, including the pumpkinseed fish

Having visited these pools the weekend of 12/7/24 it’s pretty obvious that the hotel is the culprit. The British Columbia’s Ministry of Water is currently investigating the crime since these pools are technically a Crown’s resource, not the property of the hotel/resort. Pictures in the original article show the pools filled in with earth and boulders, but as of the date of the visit, the pools are back although large boulders sit within them preventing humans from comfortably fitting within the pools to soak. This is a common tactic that is often utilized by cities to cover areas to discourage the homeless from setting up tents in certain public areas. From comparisons of photos between November and December, it appears either the pools sunk and settled in the soil fill, and/or someone has removed some of the fill. It is still not spacious enough for bathers to use.

A petition is being filed to address this criminal act and repairing the pools. You can find this petition here: https://www.change.org/p/restore-the-outdoor-hot-spring-pools-qw%C3%B3lts-at-harrison-hot-springs.