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      • Whistler Golf Course 5k(3.1 Mile)
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      • Alta Green Lost 15k(9.3 Mile)
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  • AtoZ
      • Ablation Zone
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      • Adit Lakes
      • Aiguille
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      • Arborlith or Lithophyte
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      • A River Runs Through It
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Joffre Lakes

Adit Lakes

Wedgemount Lake

Newt Lake

Wedgemount Lake

Whistler Train Wreck

Cirque Lake

Black Tusk

Callaghan Lake

Black Tusk

Brandywine Meadows

Logger's Lake

Northair Mine

Spectacular Whistler!

Whistler hiking is wonderful! Check out our Best Whistler Hiking by Month guides! WeRentGear.com rents tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, camp stoves, packs, complete kits and more!

Best Trails This Week!

Best This Week: Whistler Train Wreck and Parkhurst Ghost Town are easy, fun and dog friendly. Check out our May and June Whistler and Garibaldi Park guides here!

The Rainbow Trail is a convenient and popular trail near Whistler Village that takes you to Rainbow Lake as well as the 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. 

  • Quiet trail compared to other Whistler trails
  • Trails continue past the lake to other lakes
  • Stunning views of Blackcomb & Whistler mountains
  • Continuing trail/route to Rainbow Mountain
  • The alpine hiking options(eg: Sproatt) are incredible
  • The huge erratics at the lake are perfect for suntanning
  • No camping, fishing or swimming allowed
  • Trail is sometimes scenic, but often in deep forest
  • Tour companies often fly over spoiling the serenity
  • Dogs not allowed due to being Whistler's water source

There are a few views of the valley across to Whistler Mountain, Blackcomb Mountain, and Wedge Mountain.  Few views, though fantastic.  Rainbow Lake itself is in a gorgeous alpine valley with branching trails that extend further beyond the lake in at least three directions.  Along with the waterfalls, bridge crossings and valley views, the Rainbow Trail passes through deep forest with some impressively huge trees.  Plenty of birds can be heard and seen along the trail and though black bears frequent the area, they are infrequently spotted due to their migration down into the valley.  Cougars are also known to roam around this area, though also rarely spotted.  As recently as 2014 signs of cougar activity were identified on the Flank Trail near where it branches off from the Rainbow Trail.  The Rainbow Trail has a small side trail that takes you to Rainbow Falls. Not far from the trailhead, the small Rainbow Falls sign is easily missed.

Rainbow Lake Hiking Trail Map

It is located about five minutes into the Rainbow Trail and your best bet to find it is to keep bearing right along the first couple trail branches. Don't worry about getting lost here though as all the trails reconnect further along the trail when you briefly exit the forest at the water treatment building. Unfortunately, Rainbow Lake is the water supply for Whistler, so you cannot swim, fish or camp near the lake. There is decent camping available nearby at Hanging Lake as well as Beverley Lake in the direction of Rainbow Mountain.

Rainbow Lake Map v12

Hanging Lake and Beverley Lake

Hanging Lake is a bit dark and swampy as compared to the spectacular camping at Beverley Lake which is a tough but rewarding hike beyond Rainbow Lake.  Beverley Lake is reached by following the trail toward Rainbow Mountain. About 40 minutes into this trail the trail markers will stop as it ascends up into an extensive boulder field towards Rainbow Mountain. To reach Beverley Lake, bear left of the route to Rainbow Mountain and follow the valley.  Beverley Lake is about an hours hike from Rainbow Lake. To get even further from the world, hike the partly marked trail to Beverley Lake. The first kilometre is well worn and easy to follow as this is also a somewhat popular trail to reach the summit of Rainbow Mountain. The Rainbow Mountain trail veers right and quickly ascends through massive boulders.  If you instead bear left and stay in the valley you will reach this fantastically remote lake.  You will be a bit disheartened, however, when you arrive at the lake and see a picnic table.  It's very out of place, evidently put there by some helicopter tour company.  Other than the weird picnic table there are no signs of humanity, and no restrictions on camping as you have at Rainbow Lake.

Rainbow Lake Hike in Whistler

Rainbow Lake - Hike in Whistler

Rainbow Lake Hike in Whistler

Rainbow Lake Aerial View

Rainbow Lake - Hike in Whistler

Rainbow Trail Directions Map

More Rainbow Lake Hiking Info...

More Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Maps!

Sloquet Hot Springs Maps

Sloquet Hot Springs is a wonderfully wild set of shallow, man-made pools fed by a small, all natural, and very hot, waterfall. The pools stretch from the waterfall to the ...
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Joffre Lakes Maps

The three Joffre Lakes are some of the most stunning lakes you are likely to ever see. Each lake gets progressively more beautiful and impossibly turquoise from one to the ...
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Parkhurst Ghost Town Maps

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 ...
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Brandywine Falls Maps

Brandywine Falls is one of the must see sights on the way to or from Whistler. The falls drop from a 70 metre(230 feet), unnaturally abrupt looking cliff to the valley below. ...
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More Whistler Hiking Trail Maps

West Coast Trail Best Sights

Whistler & Garibaldi Park Glossary A to Z

Along the shore of Green Lake, you will find a monstrous old Caterpillar tractor that dates from the 1930’s.  Abandoned here in the 1950’s, it looks as if the ...
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The Cordilleran Ice Sheet covered most of north-west North America for much of the last 2.6 million years.  At the Last Glacial Maximum during the Last ...
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The Rubble Creek trailhead is the main access point for many of the best hikes and sights in Garibaldi Provincial Park.  Rubble Creek is located midway ...
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The Garibaldi Volcanic Belt is a line of mostly dormant stratovolcanoes and subglacial volcanoes largely centred around Whistler and extending through much ...
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Adjacent to the huge Caterpillar tractor in Parkhurst is a large disintegrating wooden dock that is a great place to take in the wonderful view of Green ...
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Alec Dalgleish (1 August 1907 - 26 June 1934) was a highly respected mountaineer and climber out of Vancouver in the 1920's and 1930's.  His enthusiasm and ...
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Charles Townsend (1900-1997) moved from London, England to Vancouver in the early 1920's where he met Neal Carter while studying Agriculture at UBC. Townsend was ...
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Deadfall means a tangled mass of fallen trees and branches.  There are several name variations for fallen trees that are commonly used in Whistler.  ...
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More Hike in Whistler Glossary

Free Camping Gear Delivery to Garibaldi Park

The Best Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Trails!

Brandywine Falls is one of the must see sights on the drive to or from Whistler, and arguably the nicest of Whistler’s numerous beautiful waterfalls. Located about halfway between Squamish and Whistler, the ...
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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 ...
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Alexander Falls is a very impressive 43 metre/141 foot waterfall just 30 to 40 minutes south of Whistler in the Callaghan Valley. Open year-round and located just before Whistler Olympic Park where several ...
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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 ...
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More Whistler Hiking Trails & Maps

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