Hot Springs Cove

The springs lie inside a provincial park that was long known as Maquinna Marine Provincial Park, protecting about 2,563 hectares and established in 1955. In March 2025 the park was renamed Nism̓aakqin Park under provincial legislation; the name was provided by the Ahousaht First Nation and is translated by BC Parks as "our land that we care for" in Nuu-chah-nulth. The springs themselves are called mux̣ʷšiƛa in the Ahousaht language, which BC Parks renders as "steaming from rock". The community and bay take their English name, Hot Springs Cove, from the springs, which older records list as Ramsay Hot Spring.

Sources describe this stretch of coast in slightly different ways. Hesquiaht people are commonly named as the traditional territory holders around the cove, and the Hesquiaht community relocated to Hot Springs Cove after the 1964 tsunami. BC Parks, however, works with the Ahousaht Nation, through the Maaqutusiis Hahoulthee Stewardship Society, on a visitor use management strategy for the springs, and a business corporation connected to Ahousaht operates the park. Treat the area as shared Nuu-chah-nulth country whose stewardship arrangements are still evolving, and check BC Parks for current details.

Visitors are usually told that the water emerges from a rock crevice at roughly 50°C (about 122°F). Travel sources commonly explain that seawater seeps down along a geological fault, is heated deep underground, and is pushed back up through fractured rock. The depth figure of around 5 km often repeated for this process comes from travel writing rather than a geological study, so treat it as indicative. BC Parks describes the water cascading down a small waterfall into six rocky pools, each cooler than the last as ocean swells mix in. At high winter tides the pools can fill with cold seawater, and BC Parks warns that rough water and floating debris can cause injury, so tide timing matters.

BC Parks lists access by boat or floatplane from Tofino, Ucluelet, Gold River, Tahsis or Hot Springs Cove, using operators holding park-use permits. Tour operators from Tofino commonly describe a water-taxi or boat trip of around an hour and a half, or a floatplane flight of roughly 20 minutes; confirm the current trip details with your operator. From the head of the dock, a boardwalk of about 2 km leads through old-growth forest to the springs, with a viewing platform along the way. A rebuild of the boardwalk was carried out in partnership with Ahousaht, and BC Parks notes it can be slippery with frost or rotting leaves in fall and winter. The personalised carved planks that visitors once paid for are no longer part of the arrangement.

• BC Parks asks visitors to stay on the trail, keep glass containers out of and around the pools, leave alcohol out of the park, and leave pets behind past the start of the boardwalk.
• Camping and fires are not permitted in the hot springs area, there are no lifeguards, and the park sits in a tsunami-risk zone, with BC Parks advising a move to ground more than 15 m above the tide line after strong shaking.
• Wildlife seen on the water journey can include whales, sea otters and eagles, though sightings are never guaranteed.

Because the springs sit beyond the road network, the experience is built around a boat or floatplane operator. Voyzo can arrange private-vehicle pickup and a driver for the road leg to and from Tofino, so the day begins and ends without a car park to find. Check the transport operator and BC Parks for current schedules, access conditions and any park requirements.