Winter Hiking and Snowshoeing!
Winter hiking and snowshoeing in Whistler is spectacular! Parkhurst Ghost Town and Whistler Train Wreck are adventures into Whistler's past. Brandywine Falls and Bungee Bridge are amazing!
Bivouac or Bivy: a primitive campsite or simple, flat area where camping is possible. Traditionally used to refer to a very primitive campsite comprised of natural materials found on site such as leaves and branches or simply sleeping under the stars. Often used interchangeably with the word camp, however, bivouac implies a shorter, quicker and much more basic and naturally constructed camp setup.
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
For example, at the Taylor Meadows campground in Garibaldi Park, camping is the appropriately used term to describe sleeping there at night as you have constructed tent platforms and are using a tent. If instead you plan to sleep on the summit of Black Tusk, bivouacking would be more accurately used to describe what you are doing as you are not using a tent. In the warm summer months around Whistler you will find people bivouacking under the stars in various places with just a sleeping bag. Pier bivouacking is the memorable experience of spending the night on one of Whistler’s many piers on lakes such as Alta Lake, Lost Lake, and Alpha Lake. The wonderful, wooden tent platforms at Wedgemount Lake are also ideal places to bivouac under the stars. Along the world renowned West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island you will find several very interesting places previous hikers have bivouacked. From constructed driftwood shelters to idyllic, yet haunting caves, finding a refuge from the harsh west coast weather requires a lot of creativity. Finding one is always interesting as you feel like you have stumbled upon a hidden world. Whether in a dark, but inviting cave with a driftwood seats around the remnants of a campfire or a large, yet strangely cozy lean-to driftwood house with a million dollar view. Entering one of these always fills you with a sense of wonder about who was here before you and curiosity makes you peer into every dark corner.
Twentyone Mile Creek Bivouacking
For the most part bivouacking leaves no trace, but occasionally in Whistler you come across something more lasting. In the deep, dark, hidden forest trail A River Runs Through It, between Emerald Forest and Rainbow Park you occasionally stumble upon interesting curiosities. Just a few metres from the beautiful and winding Twentyone Mile Creek a large, fairly elaborate, yet nearly invisible lean to has been long abandoned. Thin, but long trees, about four metres long lay against a cross beam between two big trees. With the addition of a tarp over one side, you can imagine it being quite cozy as well as pretty big. Just a few steps away you have the crashing creek flowing past and a nice, clean rocky shore to make a campfire. A beautifully picturesque place to camp and an ancient, overgrown dirt road and various old and new trails lead in a few directions and out to civilization unexpectedly quickly.
Winter Bivouacking at Elfin Lakes
In the winter months in Whistler, bivouacking can take the form of a snow cave or quinzee. People bivouacking in snow caves are pretty common around Whistler and in Garibaldi Park in the winter. Outside the Eflin Lakes Hut in Garibaldi Park in the winter you will usually find several snow caves dug out of the snowbank outside the hut. A quinzee is a low-tech version of an igloo that is made from a pile of loose snow. The pile of snow is shaped into a round, igloo shaped dome, then the inside is dug out. Because the snow is not terribly compacted on the inside it does not take a huge amount of effort or skill to make. The name quinzee is a Canadian term for what other parts of the English speaking world would call a snow hut.
Books About Whistler Trees
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. Another great book that takes a specific look at a wonderful tree found in Whistler is The Yew Tree: A Thousand Whispers by Hal Hartzell. About as comprehensive as a book on yew trees can be. Culture, history, modern uses and specific to Whistler and Part 4 of the book specifically deals with the Pacific Yew. From an extensive look at Native Americans use of the Pacific Yew to a more recent examination of this amazing tree. If you have any interest in this extraordinary tree you will find it hard to put this wonderful book down.
Neal Carter (14 Dec 1902 - 15 Mar 1978) was an early explorer of the Coast Mountains around what would eventually be called Whistler Valley. In the summer ...
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Wedge Creek cuts through the valley that separates Wedge Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain and empties into Green River near the north end of Green Lake. ...
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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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The Table is an extraordinary flat-topped mountain located in Garibaldi Park just one kilometre south of Garibaldi Lake. Sometimes reflexively referred to as ...
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Accumulation Zone: the area where snow accumulations exceeds melt, located above the firn line. Snowfall accumulates faster than melting, evaporation and ...
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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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There are plenty of beautiful and free snowshoe trails in Whistler and Garibaldi Provincial Park. From the surreal paintings of Whistler Train Wreck to ...
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February is a great month for snowshoeing in Whistler and Garibaldi Park. The days slowly get longer, but the temperatures stay consistently cold. Expect ...
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In the(usually) deep March snow of Whistler you have an amazing array of snowshoeing options. If you have not been to the Whistler Train Wreck, you have ...
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April in Whistler is a wonderful time of year. The winter deep freeze ends and T-shirt weather erupts. The village comes alive with overflowing patios and ...
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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
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 Highway ...
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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 from Whistler Mountain and ...
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Meager Hot Springs(aka: Meager Creek Hot Springs) is located 93 kilometres northwest of Whistler, was beautifully developed into gorgeous pools, with a caretaker and usage charge. At its height of ...
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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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