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Emerald Forest is a cute little forest that is well hidden between Whistler Cay and Alpine. From Whistler Village, if you go down to the end of Lorimer Road you will see the Valley Trail branch off in three directions. If you take the direction toward Meadow Park, you will immediately cross the bridge over the River of Golden Dreams. The paved trail then continues to Meadow Park, but if you take the first left after crossing the train tracks, you will come to the old gravel pit and the start of the Emerald Forest trails.
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
January February 
March April May 
June July August 
September October November December
In the winter the gravel pit is a sledding hill and in the summer it is the gateway to a few hiking and biking trails. If you follow the trail up the edge of the gravel pit and look back you will get a great view of Wedge Mountain, Blackcomb Mountain and Whistler Mountain. Unfortunately this view is through power lines, but still the view is fantastic. At the top of the gravel pit you will see two trails that enter Emerald Forest. The first trail takes you through the middle of the forest along a wide and relatively smooth dirt path. This path immediately immerses you in the emerald coloured surrounding of the forest. You immediately understand how the forest got its name as everywhere you look you see green. Green moss on the ground and green trees around and above you. The forest above is so thick that the sun can barely get through. What rays of sun get through light up the green surroundings to illuminate the darkness. This gives Emerald Forest a magical feel to it. It may be a sunny, summer day, yet the forest is surprisingly sealed off from the outside world with the dense forest and thick canopy above. Despite the thick forest cover, walking through the forest is wonderfully bright and actually glows green all around.
The second entrance takes you along the more rugged and wild ridge trail that takes you roughly parallel, though high above the Valley Trail. This trail zig-zags around fallen trees, boulders and several rock outcrops as well as a couple of small sunny areas with partial views east toward Wedge Mountain. Occasionally this trail meanders into what feels like bushwhacking before rejoining the lower, wider trail that runs through the middle of Emerald Forest. The further you walk from the gravel pit end of Emerald Forest the wilder, more overgrown, and more interesting Emerald Forest becomes. Fallen trees everywhere and strangely out-of-place looking, truck sized boulders force the trails in interesting directions. The terrain is so chaotic with forest growth and boulders that you can often only see a few dozen metres in any direction despite the lack of very much forest floor growth.
This makes the forest quite fun to walk through as you never quite know what you will find around each bend in the trail. Though it is a wonderfully messy spider web of interconnecting trails, you can't get lost for very long. If you start at the gravel pit near Loirmer Road, you will eventually come out at either the Valley Trail on the right or the old gravel road on your left. The old gravel road is the more scenic and serene route to return to where you started. A few decades ago it was a connecting road between Alta Lake Road and Lorimer Road. Now it is a wide and scenic connecting trail that is not very well known. Just before this road connects to Alta Lake Road you will see a trail descend down into the forest on your left. This is the beautifully wild and challenging bike trail know as A River Runs Through It. It traces a fantastically winding route through this deep and dark forest for several kilometres before coming out at Rainbow Park. The old road is the easiest and direct route back to Lorimer Road as it is fairly straight and mostly gradually downhill.
Two Interesting Historical Books!
If you have been to Sloquet Hot Springs, you likely had no idea that you were in the midst of a century old mystery of a lost gold mine. Several books have been written about it and the History Channel even made a six episode show called Curse of the Frozen Gold. The show was quite entertaining with the characters exploring the mountains around Sloquet. The hot springs even appeared in one episode as they searched nearby for the mysterious hidden vein of gold. The excellent book, Slumach's Gold: In Search of A Legend lays out the history and theories in enticing detail. The next time you find yourself lounging in Sloquet Hot Springs, you will inevitably glance around and wondering if you are sitting near the hidden gold mine. 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!
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
January February March April May June July August September October November December
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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