Alexander Falls is located far up in the Callaghan Valley just before the turnoff to Callaghan Lake Provincial Park. The falls are very impressive with its 43 metre or 141 foot drop into the boulder filled chasm below. A beautiful viewing area directly across from the falls gives you a great view and several picnic tables entice you to have a picnic.
Brandywine Falls Provincial Park is a very convenient stop along the Sea to Sky Highway on the way to or from Whistler. The falls spill over an abrupt 70 metre cliff with a perfectly positioned viewing platform to view it. Most just take the short, 5 minute hiking trail to the viewing area, however Brandywine Falls Provincial Park has a couple connecting trails to cute little lakes as well as the wonderful Sea to Sky Trail.
Blackcomb Mountain is much less known for its hiking trails than Whistler Mountain. It is hard to compare the two mountains hiking trails as they are so different and beautiful in their own set of ways. Whistler Mountain trails look down on Cheakamus Lake and the Whistler Valley, whereas the Blackcomb Mountain trails mostly face across the valley toward Whistler Mountain.
Callaghan Lake is a stunning lake high up in the Callaghan Valley that you can drive to from Whistler Village in less than an hour. The very potholed and waterbar strewn gravel road to get there ends at the Callaghan Lake Park campsite and shore of the lake. Hardly any hiking trails exist at the lake itself, however trails are being planned for the near future.
Cirque Lake is a beautiful mountain lake hidden up alongside Mount Callaghan in Callaghan Lake Provincial Park. The trailhead is tricky to find and located at the far end of Callaghan Lake. You can only reach the trailhead by boat and the trail is quite steep but very short. Less than two kilometres long the steep trail hugs Cirque Creek and Cirque Falls up to Cirque Lake.
Joffre Lakes Provincial Park is a gorgeous park with extraordinarily coloured lakes, waterfalls, stunning mountain peaks and ominous glaciers pouring into the valley. Joffre Lakes is one of those incredible places that makes it hard to take a boring picture. The three Joffre Lakes are some of the most stunning lakes you are likely to ever see.
Keyhole Falls are found just a couple kilometres upriver from Keyhole Hot Springs. The unmarked trailhead and parking area for Keyhole Falls are just a couple kilometres past the parking area for Keyhole Hot Springs. If you don't have a rough idea where it is, or expect an obvious sign, you will likely get lost in the maze of logging roads in the area.
Logger’s Lake is an amazing little lake hidden up in the deep forest above the more well known Cheakamus River. The lake, almost unbelievably exists in a long extinct volcano. However, as soon as you see the lake up close, you quickly come to believe it. The lake sits in a beautifully volcano-shaped bowl, with one side of the bowl a crumbling array of huge, cube shaped boulders leading down to, and spilling into the lake.
Madeley Lake is a beautiful, remote mountain lake hidden high up in the Callaghan Valley. From Whistler Village expect to take 40 minutes to drive there. You can drive directly to the lake, however the access road is pretty bad with deep waterbars. An average 4x4 can make it quite easily, though most cars with have great difficulty driving over the numerous deep water cut gouges in the road.
Panorama Ridge is easily one of the most amazing hikes in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The 15 kilometre hike from the trailhead at Rubble Creek to Panorama Ridge takes you through beautiful and deep forests, across countless idyllic streams, through meadows filled with flowers, and past dozens of jaw dropping viewpoints.
Mount Sproatt, or as it is known locally as just Sproatt, is one of the many towering mountains visible from Whistler Village. Above and beyond Alta Lake, directly across from Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain, you will see this quiet giant. Its unremarkable appearance hides the growing network of trails that stretch through some startlingly beautiful terrain.
Whistler has an absurd number of wonderful and free hiking trails and Parkhurst Ghost Town certainly ranks as one of the most unusual, exotic and interesting. Parkhurst was a little logging town perched on the edge of Green Lake way before Whistler was Whistler. Up on the ridge where Parkhurst sits, the views are sensational. Green Lake far below, a solid unnatural looking mass of green.
The Rainbow Trail is a convenient and popular trail near Whistler Village that takes you to Rainbow Lake as well as the Rainbow-Sproatt Flank Trail, Rainbow Falls, Hanging Lake, Madeley Lake, Beverley Lake, Rainbow Mountain... and even Whistler Olympic Park if you are determined. It is a consistently uphill and very beautiful trail with several water (bridge) crossings and waterfalls on the way to the picture-perfect lake.
Russet Lake is a surreal little paradise that lays at the base of The Fissile, in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The Fissile is the strikingly bronze mountain visible from Whistler Village. From the Village look into the distance at the Peak2Peak Gondola hanging between Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain and you will see The Fissile. Its pyramid shape in the distance perfectly separates the two mountains.
Whistler Train Wreck is an amazing, easy and accessible year-round hike in Whistler. The trail to Whistler Train Wreck is an easy, yet varied route through deep forest, across a great suspension bridge over Cheakamus River, to a stunning array of wrecked train cars. The trail from your car to the wrecks only takes about 15 minutes, however once you reach one wreck, you see another, then another.
Wedgemount Glacier descends the steep valley down from Wedge Mountain and flanked by Parkhurst Mountain and Mount Weart. A couple decades ago the glacier reached Wedgemount Lake with an abrupt wall of ice. Now the terminus is a few hundred metres from the shore and has a huge, gaping glacier window at its end.
Wedgemount Lake itself is a magnificent destination for a day hike or spectacular overnight beneath the dazzling mountain peaks and stars above Garibaldi Provincial Park. Many sleep under the stars on one of the many beautiful tent platforms that dot the landscape. Solidly built, wooden tent platforms are everywhere you look at Wedgemount Lake.
The alpine hiking trails on Whistler Mountain are the ultimate in luxurious, quick-access alpine hiking. Little effort gets you amazing views of turquoise lakes, snowy mountains, valleys of flowers and distant glaciers. The Whistler Gondola takes you to the Roundhouse Lodge where you find gift shops, restaurants, viewing decks and the new Umbrella Bar.
