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  • AtoZ
      • Ablation Zone
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Black Tusk

Brandywine Meadows

Adit Lakes

Wedgemount Lake

Newt Lake

Wedgemount Lake

Whistler Train Wreck

Callaghan Lake

Northair Mine

Cirque Lake

Logger's Lake

Black Tusk

Joffre Lakes

Spectacular Whistler!

Whistler hiking is wonderful! Check out our Best Whistler Hiking by Month guides! WeRentGear.com rents tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, camp stoves, packs, complete kits and more!

Best Trails This Week!

Best This Week: Whistler Train Wreck and Parkhurst Ghost Town are easy, fun and dog friendly. Check out our May and June Whistler and Garibaldi Park guides here!

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 along the Helm Creek trail, until it joins Cheakamus River, not far from where it leaves Cheakamus Lake. The location of Helm Creek campground is pretty amazing for a variety of reasons.

  • Spread out and serene campsite setting
  • Well organized campground in deep wilderness
  • Connects to Black Tusk via gorgeous ridge route
  • Very serene setting next to idyllic creek
  • Endless unmarked routes to amazing sights
  • Black Tusk looms beautifully very near
  • More of a crossroads than a destination
  • No glacier views like you get at Garibaldi Lake
  • No convenient lake to swim in
  • Fills up fast with just a few tent pads

First it is just a great location. About halfway between Cheakamus Lake and Black Tusk it lays in some amazingly scenic areas of Garibaldi Park. Beautiful, climbable mountains all around. Amazing fields of snow that run all the way to the base of Black Tusk well into July. Rivers, creeks and waterfalls everywhere you look from the idyllic campground. A large, grassy field ringed by trees and Helm Creek.  What you always want from a campground is a convenient and clean water source and of course Helm Creek is both.  Another aspect of a great campground is a variety of beautiful views and a serene setting and again Helm Creek has both of these.  The campground is so widespread that even if the area becomes busy, you can still manage to not hear your neighbours. This part of Garibaldi Park really has no defined trails except the Helm Creek trail that runs past the campsite, but there are infinitely numerous directions you can wander.  Exploring in any direction takes you to more and more pristine, green fields, streams, pocket lakes and mountain views.  Though most just use it as a base to extend onto Black Tusk, it is a great base for so much more. Helm Peak, Corrie Peak, Cinder Cone, Empetrum Peak as well as the more frequented Panorama Ridge, Black Tusk and Garibaldi Lake.

Helm Creek Campground

Possibly the nicest aspect of Helm Creek as a campground is that it is quiet and serene when compared with the other two area Garibaldi Park campgrounds. Garibaldi Lake and Taylor Meadows are very busy all summer long. At Helm Creek you find yourself in a remote and quiet valley in the midst of paradise. From the trail junction in the campground you see the enticing sign indicating what is around you. The nice, well marked trail continues to Panorama Ridge in 7 kilometres.  Black Tusk in 9.5 kilometres or Garibaldi Lake in 9 kilometres.  All of these destinations branch off the main trail that ascends away from Helm Creek.  Another popular, yet unmarked destination from Helm Creek is the Helm Glacier.  Though unmarked, it is very easy to find on the trail from Helm Creek that leads to Black Tusk, Panorama Ridge and Garibaldi Lake. Just keep your eyes out for the fantastic erratic, with the tree growing out of it along the trail.  It is obvious when you spot it(about 20 minutes from the Helm Creek campground).  At this marvellous display of glacier power and a hardy krummholz breaking apart this huge glacier deposited boulder, turn left and walk up the open valley and you will arrive at the amazing Helm Glacier in just 45 minutes.  In the opposite direction from Helm Creek from where you just came the sign shows Cheakamus Lake to be 8.5 kilometres away and the Cheakamus Lake trailhead and parking lot to be 8.5 kilometres away.  This trail slowly descends the valley for a couple kilometres before more steeply zig-zagging down to the Cheakamus River crossing.

Helm Creek Large Map v14a

Helm Creek Campground

Helm Creek Campground

Helm Creek Erratic

Black Tusk from Helm Creek Trail

Helm Creek Trail Directions Map

More hiking info for Helm Creek...

More Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Maps!

Nairn Falls Maps

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 ...
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Rainbow Falls Maps

The short, scenic and easy hiking trail to Rainbow Falls is located just a short, half kilometre from the Rainbow Lake or Rainbow Trail trailhead. The trail begins by ...
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Madeley Lake Maps

Madeley Lake is a gorgeous mountain lake located high up in the Callaghan Valley just a short drive past Alexander Falls.  From Whistler Village it takes about 50 minutes to ...
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Helm Creek Maps

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 ...
Read more
More Whistler Hiking Trail Maps

West Coast Trail Best Sights

Whistler & Garibaldi Park Glossary A to Z

Cirque: a glacier-carved bowl or amphitheater in the mountains.  To form, the glacier must be a combination of size, a certain slope and more unexpectedly, a ...
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Tarn: a small alpine lake.  The word tarn originates from the Norse word tjorn which translates to English as pond.  In the United Kingdom, tarn is widely ...
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Northair Mine is wonderful, hidden world high up in Callaghan Valley.  It was a gold mine run by the Northair Group from 1976 until was abandoned in 1982 ...
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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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Western hemlock (tsuga heterophylla) is a large evergreen coniferous tree that is native to the west coast of North America. Unlike many other trees in ...
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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 ...
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Aiguille: a tall, narrow, characteristically distinct spire of rock. From the French word for "needle". Used extensively as part of the names for many ...
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Bushwhack is a term often used in Canada and the United States to refer to hiking off-trail where no trail exists.  Literally means 'bush' and 'whack'.  To ...
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More Hike in Whistler Glossary

Free Camping Gear Delivery to Garibaldi Park

The Best Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Trails!

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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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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Taylor Meadows is a very scenic campsite and great alternative to the much busier and more well known, Garibaldi Lake campsite. Located in Garibaldi Provincial Park between Garibaldi Lake and Black Tusk, ...
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The alpine hiking trails on Whistler Mountain are the ultimate in luxurious, quick-access alpine hiking. Little effort gets you amazing views of turquoise lakes, snowy mountains, valleys of flowers and ...
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More Whistler Hiking Trails & Maps

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