A lake with houses on three shores and a road to only one of them, ten minutes south of the Earls Cove ferry.
Where Ruby Lake sits, and the other places we attend
around Egmont. Every name on the map is a link.
Highway 101 runs down the east side
Ruby Lake is an official BC geographical name, adopted 2 December 1948 on map sheet 92G/12, with its centre at 49.72194 north and 123.99111 west. The Sunshine Coast Highway follows its eastern shore. Driving, the lake is about fifteen minutes south of Egmont village and about ten minutes south of the ferry terminal at Earls Cove. Addresses on this stretch of highway run through the 15200 to 15600 blocks, and the postal code is V0N 2H0.
The regional district treats Ruby Lake as one of the four communities in its Egmont and District evacuation zone, together with the north shore of Sakinaw Lake. Its description of the settlement pattern is short: "Ruby Lake has a permanent and seasonal residential community with homes sporadically around the lake."
Official Community Plan Bylaw 708 puts the Ruby Lake shoreline in Rural Residential A. The minimum subdivided parcel along the lakeshores is 1.75 hectares with 60 metres of lakeshore frontage, the shoreline sits inside Development Permit Area #4 with a 30 metre riparian assessment area, and the plan carries a recommended 20 metre building setback. The result on the ground is large treed lots with a long gap and standing timber between one house and the next. The same bylaw rules out any commercial help on the water: "Marinas and related commercial facilities, in particular fuel sales, shall not be permitted on lakes and fresh water within the Plan area." There is no fuel dock and no marina on this lake.
Two of the three shores have no road
The same plan sets out which houses a vehicle can reach. On the north side and on the southwest side, it records, the cabins are reached by water or by a limited trail and by nothing else. That is the first question to settle before booking anything here. Houses reached from Hallowell Road, on the southeast side, and the few with highway frontage can be visited by truck. The rest cannot, in any weather, and a winter check on one of them has to be arranged by boat.
A burned car in the 15500 block
At about 1:15 in the morning on 28 September 2022, a vehicle fire was reported in the 15500 block of the Sunshine Coast Highway near Egmont, the block that contains Dan Bosch Park at 15555. Egmont Fire attended, Sunshine Coast RCMP followed, and human remains were found in the car once the fire was out. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team took the file over and the highway was closed and cordoned. In December 2022 the victim was identified as Shaun Hoole of Sechelt, the registered owner of the car. The file remains with IHIT.
Parking at Dan Bosch spills onto the shoulder
Dan Bosch Park is a 25 hectare regional park at 15555 Sunshine Coast Highway with a sand beach, three picnic tables, a public washroom and a quarter-mile loop trail along the shore. The regional district's own listing warns that "Parking is limited." A 2024 expansion presentation posted by the Pender Harbour and Area Residents Association names dangerous overflow parking along Highway 101 as one of three problems at the park, with beach crowding and pressure on the boat launch. Phase one of that proposal would "Double parking area (approximately 30 new spaces)" in packed gravel and add an outhouse. Until it is built, summer afternoons put parked cars on the highway shoulder outside the lake's driveways.
The emergency assembly point is a private resort
When the regional district needs a muster point for this half of the evacuation zone it uses Ruby Lake Resort at 15426 Sunshine Coast Highway, listing its 20 guest rooms, restaurant, parking and internet. The resort has been run by the Cogrossi family since 1993 and sits on 80 acres. Nearby at 15200 is the Iris Griffith Field Studies and Interpretive Centre, built in 2005 and now run by the Loon Foundation; the reserve behind it "is now protected in perpetuity by a Conservation Covenant held by the Sunshine Coast Regional District". The Egmont and District Volunteer Fire Department covers this lake, which appears by name on the regional district's list of communities the department answers for. There is no regional district water system here and no hydrants, so the department brings its own water in a tanker. Houses are on wells or lake intakes, with septic fields.
What a check at Ruby Lake covers
Whether the property is road-served from Hallowell Road or water access only, settled before the first visit
Gate, lock, driveway and the culvert where it meets the highway or the side road
Doors, windows, workshop and boat shed, each lock tried by hand
Heat running and holding, or the plumbing drained and the main valve confirmed shut
Well pump, pressure tank and line, or the lake intake, foot valve and screen
Septic tank lid and field, checked for wet ground after heavy rain
Dock, ramp, float cables and the boat or canoe stored on the shore
Trees leaning toward the roof or the power drop, given the setback distances here
A dated photograph of each item, filed the day of the visit
A standard homeowner policy treats an empty house as a condition of cover. Through the heating season somebody competent has to attend on a stated cycle, in many policies no further apart than four days, or the supply has to be turned off and the lines emptied. Wording differs between companies, so read the clause your own insurer printed.
What it costs
A scheduled check at Ruby Lake is
$55 a visit, plus
$10 travel. The travel charge is the same
everywhere between Gibsons and Egmont. There is no minimum term and no joining fee.
See the full price list.
Where these facts come from
Every figure, date and quotation on this page was taken from one of these. They are
listed so you can read them yourself.
