May Hiking Update!
Looking forward to spring hiking in Whistler as the mountain emerge from the deep winter snow? Check out our Whistler hiking guide for May! Escape to the wilderness and rent gear today at WeRentGear Whistler.
Rainbow Lodge was a popular wilderness lodge in the small community called Alta Lake, and what would eventually be called Whistler It was a fishing and relaxing destination and easily accessible from Vancouver via the train route that counted it as one of the main train stations in the valley. Open by Alex and Myrtle Philip in 1914, Rainbow Lodge brought tourism to a sparsely inhabited region populated mostly by loggers and miners.
Whistler & Garibaldi Park
Ablation Zone Accumulation Zone Adit Lakes Aiguille Alpine Zone Arête ARRTI Armchair Glacier The Barrier Battleship Islands Bears Bench Bergschrund Bivouac Bungee Bridge Cairn/Inukshuk Carter,Neal Chimney Cirque Cloudraker Coast Mountains Col Cordilleran Cornice Corrie Lake Crevasse Dalgleish,Alec Deadfall Emerald Forest Erratic The Fissile Fitzsimmons Creek Fitzsimmons Range Fyles,Tom Garibaldi Ranges Garibaldi Volcanic Belt Gemel Glacier Window Green Lake Hoary Marmot Krummholz Lithophyte Moraine Mt Garibaldi Mt James Turner Northair Mine North Arm Nunatuk Overlord Peak 2 Peak Rainbow Lodge Roundhouse Rubble Creek Scree Spearhead Range Tarn The Table Townsend,Charles Usnea Waterbar Winram,Mills
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At its height of popularity in the 1940's Rainbow Lodge could accommodate over 100 guests and was reputed to be the most popular camping lodge west of the Rocky Mountains. In 1948 Alex and Myrtle Philip sold the lodge and its popularity steadily declined. In 1977 the lodge burned down and the property was later sold the Municipality of Whistler and converted into a park. Today, Rainbow Park is one of Whistler's most popular and beautiful parks. Some of the remaining log houses have been restored into the outdoor museum of sorts you see there today. Interpretive panels with photos and descriptions of life in the area almost a century ago. These houses go mostly unnoticed as the main interpretive area is just off of the main beach across the Bridge of Sighs. Named by Alex Philip, the current bridge is a reconstruction of the original. There is a photo and description of the original that you can compare with the reconstruction. You will notice as you read the various panels how everything in Whistler now seems to be named after the people that once lived in and around the Rainbow Lodge community. Rainbow Park has a beautiful and very long pier that stretches far out on Alta Lake. Beyond the pier there are two swimming(island) platforms. Volleyball nets, a concession stand and washrooms sit further back from the beach. There is a large area of beach set aside as a dog park and several picnic tables. The popularity of Rainbow Park is largely due to the incredible setting. Wedge Mountain, Blackcomb Mountain and Whistler Mountain look incredible across the lake. Sunset over the lake lights up the mountains in a brilliant gold colour that is spectacular. In the morning the sun rises over Wedge Mountain casting shade over Alta Lake leaving the mountains and lake in a haunting darkness while the sky is a powerfully bright, deep blue colour.
Alex and Myrtle Philip
In 1911 Alex Philip
Ablation Zone Accumulation Zone Adit Lakes Aiguille Alpine Zone Arête ARRTI Armchair Glacier The Barrier Battleship Islands Bears Bench Bergschrund Bivouac Bungee Bridge Cairn/Inukshuk Carter,Neal Chimney Cirque Cloudraker Coast Mountains Col Cordilleran Cornice Corrie Lake Crevasse Dalgleish,Alec Deadfall Emerald Forest Erratic The Fissile Fitzsimmons Creek Fitzsimmons Range Fyles,Tom Garibaldi Ranges Garibaldi Volcanic Belt Gemel Glacier Window Green Lake Hoary Marmot Krummholz Lithophyte Moraine Mt Garibaldi Mt James Turner Northair Mine North Arm Nunatuk Overlord Peak 2 Peak Rainbow Lodge Roundhouse Rubble Creek Scree Spearhead Range Tarn The Table Townsend,Charles Usnea Waterbar Winram,Mills
Northair Mine is a surreal little world of colourful murals on abandoned cement foundations, surrounded by an astoundingly tranquil little lake in a ...
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The pale green shub-like growths hanging from trees in the forests around Whistler is called usnea. These bushy, coral-like fruticose lichens anchor to bark ...
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Whistler Bungee Bridge, also known as the Cheakamus Bungee Bridge is a very convenient and beautiful attraction on the way to or from Whistler from ...
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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 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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Lithophyte trees are trees that grow out of rock. Hiking in Whistler you encounter quite a few examples of quite large trees that grow out of what appears to be ...
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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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Russet Lake sits in a wide, glacier carved valley at the base of The Fissile. In the direction opposite The Fissile, up on a plateau less than a ...
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Whistler & Garibaldi Park 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 Mount Sproatt Taylor Meadows Train Wreck 
Wedgemount Lake Whistler Mountain
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Mount Meager erupted here 2400 years ago and filled the valley with debris that cemented into rock that blocked Lillooet River. Eventually water erosion ...
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Wedgemount Falls can be seen along the trail to Wedgemount Lake. As the falls flow directly from Wedgemount Lake, they are located about three quarters ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Cheakamus Lake is a wonderfully relaxing way to get in the wilderness easily and quickly from Whistler Village. The trail begins on the far side of Whistler Mountain, 8 kilometres from the Sea to Sky ...
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Nairn Falls is a wonderful, crashing and chaotic waterfall that surrounds you from the deluxe viewing platform that allows you to safely watch it from above. The beautiful, green water rushes through the ...
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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 of the ...
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