Fall Hiking in Whistler!
Fall is here and hiking in Whistler is spectacular! Check out our Best Whistler Hiking by Month for inspiration!
The alpine hiking trails on Whistler Mountain are the ultimate in luxurious hiking. Little hiking effort gets you amazing views of turquoise lakes, snowy mountain, valleys of flowers, waterfalls and spectacular glaciers. In the summer months, Whistler Mountain is somewhat divided in two. The lower half of the mountain is for biking and the upper half is for hiking, sightseeing, trail running, eating and drinking.
Endless beautiful trails accessible by gondola- Great way to access Garibaldi Provincial Park
- Best vantage point over Cheakamus Lake
- Effortless sightseeing as you ride to the trails
- Great eating & drinking at the Roundhouse Lodge
- Wide range of easy to difficult hiking trails
- The Peak Chair is incredible
- Trails extend to Russet Lake in Garibaldi Park
- Peak to Peak Gondola crosses to Blackcomb
Most other trails in Whistler are free
There are a few directions you can start hiking from the Roundhouse Lodge, however, taking the Peak Express(quad chairlift) up to the summit of Whistler Mountain is an amazing place to start. The Peak Express is an exhilarating ride that takes you to the start of Whistler Mountain's best hiking trails. The Half Note Trail, High Note Trail and Mathew's Traverse start here. The High Note Trail in turn leads to the Musical Bumps Trail to Russet Lake and Singing Pass in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The summit of Whistler Mountain is also a destination of its own. Spectacular views all around from this rocky, alpine summit visible from almost everywhere in Whistler. Black Tusk comes into view as you exit the Peak Express. This amazingly distinct pinnacle of jet-black rock is a local icon and remnant of a not too distant history of volcanism in the area. As you admire its absurdly vertical form, remind yourself that there is almost certainly a few hikers looking back at you from its summit. Looking right as you get off the Peak Express you will see an enormous inukshuk. A remnant of the 2010 Olympic Games and now a fixture in thousands of photos.
This beautiful stacking of huge rocks is a take-away from the Inuit tradition of marking routes in an otherwise stark landscape with a human form. The inuksuk is part of the Whistler Summit Interpretive Walk. This 1.6 kilometre(1 mile), trail takes you along an excellent route around the summit of Whistler to one amazing viewpoint after another.
High Note Trail - Whistler Mountain Maps
Branching off of the Whistler Summit Interpretive Walk you will see the High Note Trail extend toward the rocky cliffs. The High Note Trail is a beautiful trail that skirts the edge of Whistler Mountain for several kilometres before bending back around Whistler to the Roundhouse Lodge. A total of 9.4 kilometres(6 miles), the High Note Trail is a must-see trail on Whistler. For much of the trail you have Cheakamus Lake down the valley on your right. This huge lake fills the valley below with an extraordinarily vivid turquoise colour. This amazing colour caused by glacial meltwater filling the lake with suspended particles of rock which in turn reflect the light in a strikingly beautiful way.
The High Note Trail takes about 3 hours for most to hike and returns you to the Roundhouse Lodge where you began before walking down to the Peak Express and riding it up to the trailhead at the summit of Whistler. If you prefer a shorter route you can veer off from the High Note Trail, part way and take the Half Note Trail back. The Half Note Trail takes a couple kilometres off of the High Note Trail, though doesn't cut it in half as the name suggests. The Half Note Trail connects you to Pika's Traverse, which is an access road that runs from Whistler's summit down to Roundhouse Lodge. Though it is a dusty road, it still has beautiful views for most of the way.
Whistler Mountain Hiking Trails Map
Most start hiking the Whistler Mountain hiking trails at the Roundhouse at the terminus of the Whistler Gondola. You can also access Whistler Mountain for free by hiking the long Singing Pass trail and then across the Musical Bumps Trail to the peak of Whistler Mountain. The Singing Pass trail is long and boring as it runs a fairly direct line in between Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain, and always in deep forest. Years ago this 11.5 kilometre trail was much more enjoyable owing to the access road and parking area 4 kilometres up the trail. A slide took a chuck of the road out and years later you will still only find a ravine that you have to negotiate before continuing up to the original trailhead. Accessing Whistler Mountain with a day or season's pass is the best option for most. You ride in style up to the Roundhouse. From the lodge you can start hiking in a few directions or take the short walk down to the Peak Chair and ride up to the summit of Whistler Mountain. A pretty amazing way to start your hike.
Hiking Trails Near Roundhouse Lodge
The Spearhead Loop trail is a short, very easy, 1.2 kilometre or .7 mile loop trail that begins just past the Peak2Peak Gondola building. It descends down a gravel path to a snowmaking reservoir before looping back to where it started. The last section from the reservoir to the Peak2Peak Gondola building there are three trail junctions. The Harmony Lake Loop trail bends around the back of the reservoir and through a lovely alpine forest to Harmony Lake. Another trail junction at Harmony Lake goes left to another loop trail section of the Harmony Lake Loop trail or continues past the lake to yet another trail junction to the High Note trail and the Musical Bumps trail. Or you can take the trail to the right and follow the short, but challenging trail section of the Harmony Meadows trail back to the Spearhead Loop trail. The third Spearhead Loop trail junction, just before reaching the Peak2Peak Gondola building, is the wide gravel road hiking route, Pika’s Traverse. This long and continuously steep ascent takes you to the summit of Whistler Mountain along a very beautiful and constantly scenic route.
More Whistler Mountain Hiking Info...
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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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 ...
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Brandywine Meadows is a nice, relatively short hike to a massive flower filled valley high up in Callaghan Valley. Located 40 minutes south of Whistler, this tough and ...
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The short, scenic and easy hiking trail to Rainbow Falls is located just a short, half kilometre from the Rainbow Lake or Rainbow Trail trailhead. The trail begins by ...
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Garibaldi Park Wildlife & History
Plants of the Whistler Region is an excellent book that includes great pictures and descriptions of most trees you will find in Whistler. Small enough to fit in your pocket and comprehensive enough to identify most things you will encounter growing in the forests of Whistler. Along with conifer trees and broadleaf trees the book has chapters on flowers, berries, ferns and shrubs. You can find Plants of the Whistler Region on Amazon, the Whistler Library and at Armchair Books in Whistler Village. The author Collin Varner has a wonderful series of Plants of.. books on various regions beyond Whistler. Plants of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, Plants of the Gulf and San Juan Islands and Southern Vancouver Island, and Plants of the West Coast Trail. In the last couple years he has started a new series of books. The Flora and Fauna of Coastal British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest and Edible and Medicinal Flora of the West Coast: British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. A Passion for Mountains by Kathryn Bridge is a fascinating look at Don and Phyllis Munday's prolific exploration of the mountains in BC. Based out of Vancouver, they were dominant figures of the climbing community in the early 1900's. In 1923 they visited their friend Neal Carter in Alta Lake(Whistler) and explored the mountains around the valley.. many for the first time!
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 Roundhouse Lodge is the centre of activity on much of Whistler Mountain. It is where the Whistler Gondola drops off and next to where the Peak 2 Peak ...
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Glacier Window: the cave-like opening at the mouth of a glacier where meltwater runs out. Glacier windows are often extraordinarily beautiful. A blue glow ...
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Crevasse: is a split or crack in the glacier surface, often with near vertical walls. Crevasses form out of the constant movement of a glacier over ...
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Whistler, the surrounding mountains, and Garibaldi Provincial Park are home to two types of bears. Black bears and grizzly bears. Black bears are ...
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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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Nunatuk: a rock projection protruding through permanent ice or snow. Their distinct appearance in an otherwise barren landscape often makes them ...
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Waterbar and Cross-Ditch: the purpose of a waterbar or cross-ditch is to capture and redirect surface water from the road and channel it across the road ...
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Whistler & Garibaldi Hiking
Alexander Falls 
Ancient Cedars 
Black Tusk 
Blackcomb Mountain Brandywine Falls Brandywine Meadows Brew Lake Callaghan Lake Cheakamus Lake 
Cheakamus River 
Cirque Lake Flank Trail Garibaldi Lake Garibaldi Park Helm Creek Jane Lakes Joffre Lakes Keyhole Hot Springs Logger’s Lake Madeley Lake Meager Hot Springs Nairn Falls Newt Lake Panorama Ridge Parkhurst Ghost Town Rainbow Falls Rainbow Lake Ring Lake Russet Lake Sea to Sky Trail Skookumchuck Hot Springs Sloquet Hot Springs 
Sproatt East Sproatt West Taylor Meadows Train Wreck 
Wedgemount Lake Whistler Mountain
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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 of the earth in an incredibly ...
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Cirque Lake is a wild and beautiful lake that hides high above and beyond Callaghan Lake in Callaghan Lake Provincial Park. What makes Cirque Lake special among the other sensationally beautiful lakes in the ...
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Helm Creek is a cute, meandering creek that winds its way from beyond Black Tusk, down the valley to the wonderful campground that takes its name. From the Helm Creek campground, Helm Creek descends further ...
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Jane Lakes are a very remote feeling set of lakes in the beautiful wilderness near Cheakamus Crossing. Consisting of three lakes, West Jane Lake, East Jane Lake and Little Jane Lake, they have a great ...
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