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Black Tusk

Northair Mine

Whistler Train Wreck

Rainbow Lake

Rainbow Falls

Wedgemount Lake

Sproatt East

Joffre Lakes

Rent Snowshoes Here!

Whistler hiking gear rental at WeRentGear.com.  Free delivery in Whistler and to Rubble Creek for Garibaldi Provincial Park.  WeRentGear Whistler: Best gear, best prices, best service.

Best Trails This Week!

Snowshoeing: Flank Trail, Brandywine Falls, Rainbow Falls, Sproatt East, Cheakamus River, Joffre Lakes and Parkhurst Ghost Town. Hiking (snowshoes not needed): Blueberry Park, and Train Wreck.

Madeley Lake RatingMadeley Lake is a gorgeous mountain lake located high up in the Callaghan Valley just a short drive past Alexander Falls.  From Whistler Village it takes about 50 minutes to drive the 27.4 kilometres to get to the parking area for both Madeley Lake and Hanging Lake.  A new gate installed in 2022 blocks Madeley Lake FSR which continues two kilometres to the far end of Madeley Lake near the campsite. 

  • Amazing, remote feeling corner of Whistler
  • Driving there is very scenic and beautiful
  • Madeley has a cute beach
  • Tidy & cute campsite with picnic tables & fire rings
  • Beach is south facing & always sunny
  • Free campsites at both lakes
  • Madeley Creek flows through the campsite
  • Stunning mountain views all around
  • Swimming is amazing, though freezing!
  • Whistler Hiking Trail ConWhistler Olympic Park blocks the road

Visiting Madeley Lake now involves a boring walk up the old logging road to get there.  It also makes bringing a canoe, kayak or paddleboard to the lake out of the question for most.  This parking area is also where you find the trailhead for the Madeley-Hanging Lake trail.  The Madeley-Hanging Lake trail is a moderately challenging trail that ascends through the forest for 6.2 kilometres to the free campsite at Hanging Lake.  The trail connects to the Rainbow Trail, reaching Rainbow Lake in just one kilometre.  At the south end of the lake, the Rainbow Trail takes you 8 kilometres down the valley to emerge at the Rainbow Trail trailhead on Alta Lake Road.  These two trails meet at Rainbow Lake and the trails combined are known as the Rainbow Madeley trail, which is 16.1 kilometres long, trailhead to trailhead.  Rainbow Lake is the source of much of Whistler’s water supply and therefore camping, swimming and dogs are not allowed.  Hanging Lake is just outside the watershed area and none of the restrictions apply.  Camping is free at the Hanging Lake campsite which is unmaintained.  The campsite at Madeley Lake is also free and well outside the watershed area so there are no restrictions.  Beautiful Madeley Lake is the main attraction and the trail to Hanging Lake is not very popular, especially compared to the increasingly busy Rainbow Trail which is conveniently located in Whistler off Alta Lake Road, not far from Rainbow Park.  The Hanging Lake campsite is popular in the summer, though nearly everyone hikes there via the Rainbow Trail instead of the Madeley-Hanging Lake trail.  Hanging Lake is nice, though Rainbow Lake and Madeley Lake are beautiful by comparison.  Out of the three lakes, Madeley is the best by far in terms of scenery, serenity and size. 

Madeley Lake and Hanging Lake Map

Madeley is the largest of the three lakes and situated in a south facing valley aimed directly at the sun.  The small pebble beach at the far end at the campsite is amazing and always sunny.  The beach slopes steeply into the lake and perfect for jumping in if you can stand the always freezing cold the glacier fed water.  The campsite is spread throughout the forest behind this beach extending along the shore as well as along Madeley Creek which is filled with boulders and crisscrossed with deadfall trees.  A few metal fire pits can be found in various clearings around the campsite as well as a couple of picnic tables and one very old outhouse in the forest.  The campsite extends along the far end of Madeley Lake through a gorgeous and deep old forest.  A trail skirts around the top of the lake and continues around the far side of the lake.  The battered old trail is sometimes hard to follow, but it continues along the lake and connects to the Madeley-Hanging Lake trail just a few hundred metres from the trailhead parking area for both lakes.  Most hikers avoid this section around the back side of Madeley Lake and start their hike to Hanging Lake from the trailhead at the parking area. 

 

Madeley Lake Map v7a

Madeley Lake Trail Stats:

Driving There: 50 minutes from Whistler Village(27.4 kilometres/17 miles)  Hiking Distance to Madeley Lake: 500 metres to lake or 2 kilometres to campsite.  Hiking Time: 20 minutes to lake or 45 minutes to campsite.  Elevation Gain: Minimal  Fees: None  Campsites: Yes  Camping Allowed: Yes  Difficulty: Easy walk along Madeley FSR.  Kid Friendly: Yes.  Stroller Friendly: Yes.  Dog Friendly: Yes

Madeley-Hanging Lake Trail Stats:

Driving There: 50 minutes from Whistler Village(27.4 kilometres/17 miles)  Hiking Distance to Hanging Lake: 6.2 kilometres/3.8 miles to campsite.  Hiking Time: 2-3 hours to Hanging Lake.  Elevation Gain: 437 metres/1434 feet.  Fees: None  Campsites: Yes  Camping Allowed: Yes  Difficulty: Moderate, though can be challenging due to overgrown trail, deadfall, creek crossing, muddy and steep trail.  Kid Friendly: Not very fun for kids.  Stroller Friendly: No.  Dog Friendly: Yes

Callaghan Valley Map

Callaghan Valley Map v10

Callaghan Valley Map Wider Area

Callaghan Valley Map Large v18

Meager Hot Springs(aka: Meager Creek Hot Springs) is located 93 kilometres northwest of Whistler, was beautifully developed into gorgeous pools, with a caretaker and usage ...
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Russet Lake is a surreal little paradise that lays at the base of The Fissile. The Fissile is the strikingly bronze mountain visible from Whistler Village.  From the Village ...
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Wedgemount Lake itself is a magnificent destination for a day hike or spectacular overnight beneath the dazzling mountain peaks and stars. Many sleep under the stars on one of the ...
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Black Tusk is the extraordinarily iconic and appropriately named mountain that can be seen from almost everywhere in Whistler.  The massive black spire of crumbling rock juts out ...
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Accumulation Zone: the area where snow accumulations exceeds melt, located above the firn line.  Snowfall accumulates faster than melting, evaporation and ...
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Mills Winram was a very active mountaineer from Vancouver with some very notable ascents in the 1920's and 1930's.  He, along with Fred Parkes and Stan ...
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Moraines are glacially deposited ridges of debris that accumulate at the sides or terminus of a glacier.  Lateral moraines form at the sides of glaciers ...
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The Green Lake Loop is the original trail that runs around the back side of Green Lake.  Before the Sea to Sky Highway was cut through the valley in 1964, ...
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Cornice: a wind deposited wave of snow on a ridge, often overhanging a steep slope or cliff.  They are the result of snow building up on the crest of a ...
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Cirque: a glacier-carved bowl or amphitheater in the mountains.  To form, the glacier must be a combination of size, a certain slope and more unexpectedly, a ...
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Along Whistler’s Valley Trail near Rainbow Park you come across some impressively unusual trees. Unlike most other Whistler trees with straight trunks and ...
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Erratic or glacier erratic is a piece of rock that has been carried by glacial ice, often hundreds of kilometres.  Characteristic of their massive size and ...
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More Hike in Whistler Glossary

Rent Hiking Gear Whistler & Garibaldi Park

 

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 ...
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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 ...
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Keyhole Hot Springs (aka Pebble Creek Hot Springs) is located 100 kilometres from Whistler (Village Gate Blvd). Closed from Apr 1- Nov 15 every year by BC Ministry of Forests due to potential bear conflicts.  Though much of ...
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Cheakamus River is a beautiful, crashing, turquoise coloured river that flows from Cheakamus Lake, through Whistler Interpretive Forest at Cheakamus Crossing, then down past Brandywine Falls to Daisy Lake.  ...
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