Rent Snowshoes Here!
Whistler hiking gear rental at WeRentGear.com. Free delivery in Whistler and to Rubble Creek for Garibaldi Provincial Park. WeRentGear Whistler: Best gear, best prices, best service.
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 and branches on trees and hang like tinsel on a Christmas tree. known as old man’s beard, usnea tends to thrive on dead and dying trees and is can appear to be harming their hosts. They actually do no harm to trees and prefer dying ones for their lack of sunlight blocking canopy growth.
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
Usnea need sunlight for photosynthesis and clean, unpolluted air to grow well. Air pollution significantly hinders their growth, especially sulfur dioxide. In heavily polluted environments growth is measured in millimetres, in good environments like Whistler and Garibaldi Park, they tend to grow 10 to 20 centimetres long. When you encounter forests with plentiful usnea draped over branches, you have found a bioindicator that the region has high quality, clean air. Many of Whistler area hiking trails pass through sections of forest with astounding amounts of usnea hanging from branches. Usnea is slow growing and is able to endure long periods of hot dry weather. Sections of the Brew Lake and Newt Lake trails, for example, have rocky, exposed ridges with very little soil covering the bedrock. These areas are frequently starved of water and the hardy trees that survive are desiccated and sickly looking. These are great environments for usnea to grow and give these sections of brutalized trees a strangely haunting appearance. Usnea has antibiotic properties and is effective to treat skin infections. When applied to wounds, usnea appears to fight infection and speed up the healing process. It is simply pulled from a tree, moistened with water and held against the wound. The active component is usnic acid and according to Paul Bergner, in his book Medical Herbalism, its antibacterial properties have shown to be effective against staphylococcus bacteria, streptococcus bacteria and even a bacterium that commonly causes pneumonia.
The Green Lake Loop is the original trail that runs around the back side of Green Lake. Before the Sea to Sky Highway was cut through the valley in 1964, ...
Read more
Whistler spruce is a hybrid of the Sitka spruce and the interior Engelmann spruce. Sitka spruce trees thrive in the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest ...
Read more
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 ...
Read more
Erratic or glacier erratic is a piece of rock that has been carried by glacial ice, often hundreds of kilometres. Characteristic of their massive size and ...
Read more
Overlord Mountain is the highest peak in the Fitzsimmons Range. Overlord is surrounded by several mountains that collectively are named the Overlord ...
Read more
Columnar Jointing: bizarre looking columns of oddly angular rock formations that can be found in many places around Whistler and worldwide. Generally ...
Read more
The Garibaldi Volcanic Belt is a line of mostly dormant stratovolcanoes and subglacial volcanoes largely centred around Whistler and extending through much ...
Read more
There are plenty of beautiful and free snowshoe trails in Whistler and Garibaldi Provincial Park. From the surreal paintings of Whistler Train Wreck to ...
Read more
February is a great month for snowshoeing in Whistler and Garibaldi Park. The days slowly get longer, but the temperatures stay consistently cold. Expect ...
Read more
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 ...
Read more
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 ...
Read more
The Sea to Sky Trail is a 180 kilometre multi-use trail that runs from Squamish to D'Arcy. The trail is still under construction in many parts, however, the amazing route through Whistler is finally in ...
Read more
Wedgemount Lake itself is a magnificent destination for a day hike or spectacular overnight beneath the dazzling mountain peaks and stars above Garibaldi Provincial Park. Many sleep under the stars on one of ...
Read more
Panorama Ridge is easily one of the most amazing hikes in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The 15 kilometre(9.3 mile) hike from the trailhead at Rubble Creek to Panorama Ridge takes you through beautiful and deep ...
Read more
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 ...
Read more