Fall Hiking in Whistler!
Fall is here and hiking in Whistler is spectacular! Check out our Best Whistler Hiking by Month for inspiration!
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 Glacial Period(26,500 years ago), the Cordilleran Ice Sheet likely covered as much as 2.5 million square kilometres. Stretching from Alaska to Oregon, British Columbia was entirely covered in ice that in many places over two kilometres thick. At the Continental Divide of North America the Cordilleran Ice Sheet merged with the Laurentide Ice Sheet.
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
The Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets combined covered most of North America and held one and a half times more water than the Antarctic Ice Sheet does today. Interestingly, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet did not cover most of Alaska(north of the Alaska Ridge) due to the climate being too dry to produce lasting glaciers. Another remarkable feature of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet is how quickly it disappeared relative to the Laurentide Ice Sheet. It is thought, and it really only is a thought, that the Laurentide took eleven thousand years to disappear, whereas the Cordilleran only about four thousand years. Ice ages are bewilderingly complex and it is hard to get a grasp on how so many barely understood variables combine to move us into and out of ice ages. The best we can do is hone in on more graspable aspects of glaciation and try to piece together an enormous puzzle. Approximately 9000 years ago the Cordilleran Ice Sheet was in rapid retreat and Mount Price was an active volcano. Lava flowing from Mount Price met the ice wall that filled Cheakamus Valley and formed The Barrier. The Barrier allowed Garibaldi Lake to form, where previously it was a valley extending into Cheakamus Valley. The Barrier is just one of many striking geologically formed features of Garibaldi Park close to Whistler. The Table and Black Tusk are two other bizarre and beautiful mountains produced through volcanoes pushing through the enormous Cordilleran Ice Sheet.
The Table is thought to have formed just a few thousand years ago when the Cordilleran Ice Sheet covered much of northwest North America. In 1951 Canadian Geologist Bill Mathews pieced together how this interesting mountain formed. He theorized that magma must have melted a vertical tube through to the surface of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. The pooling lava cooled and hardened into a flat topped mountain. The lack of glacier erosion around The Table indicates that it formed at the end of the last ice age when the Cordilleran Ice Sheet was in quick retreat. So, looking across from Black Tusk to The Table you can try to visualize the land all around buried in an ice sheet about level with where you are standing. About 12000 years ago, there was a pure white sea of ice all around, and an unseen column of lava melting to the surface like a molten rock lake. What a sight it must have been with a cauldron of lava in the midst of a glacier hundreds of metres thick. While studying The Table as well as others in norther British Columbia, Bill Mathews referred to these flat topped mountains as tuyas. He called them tuyas after the Tuya River and Tuya Range in northern British Columbia.
Fantastic Books About Geology in BC
Here are two excellent books on the Geology of British Columbia. In Search of Ancient British Columbia by Barbara Huck is one of our favourites. It focuses on southern BC and covers each individual region separately. The Lower Mainland chapter explains the geology, paleontology and archaeology of the region stretching from Vancouver, Sea to Sky, Garibaldi Park and north to Mount Meager and Meager Hot Springs. Quite a lot of the book is devoted to how the last ice age shaped the land and inhabitants of southern BC. The chapters on Vancouver Island are particularly good as the geological history was particularly chaotic and the history of glaciation around present day Victoria is very interesting. Geology of British Columbia: A Journey Through Time by Sydney Cannings, JoAnne Nelson and Richard Cannings is a beautiful history of BC's geology and the 200 million year history of creatures living in this extraordinary corner of the world. The authors take us on a journey through time, describing the collisions of island chains called terrains, the sliding of plates, the erupting of volcanoes, and the movement of glaciers that created British Columbia as we know it today. They also describe the rich legacy of fossils left behind as a result of all this geological activity.
September hiking in Whistler is possibly the best month of all. The snow has melted far up to the mountain tops, yet the temperatures are still quite high. ...
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Hiking in Whistler in October is often unexpectedly stunning. The days are much shorter and colder but the mountains are alive with colour from the fall ...
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November in Whistler is when the temperatures plummet and the first heavy snow falls in the alpine and often in Whistler Village. The hiking opportunities become ...
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December hiking in Whistler is mainly done on snowshoes, though if it hasn't snowed for a few days, trails to Whistler Train Wreck and Rainbow Falls can ...
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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
January February March April May June July August September October November December
The short, winding, and ever-changing hiking trail to Rainbow Falls is the same as the much more popular trailhead for Rainbow Lake. The trailhead is marked as the Rainbow Trail, and the trail quickly ...
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The Sproatt East trail is a beautifully wild, steep, but relatively short trail to the magnificent, wide open alpine and summit of Mount Sproatt. Mount Sproatt (1834 metres) towers over Whistler Valley ...
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Skookumchuck Hot Springs(aka T'sek Hot Springs and St. Agnes Well), located two hours north of Whistler along the edge of the huge Lillooet River. The name Skookumchuck means "strong water" in the language ...
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