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      • Alta Green Lost 15k(9.3 Mile)
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  • AtoZ
      • Ablation Zone
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Cirque Lake

Callaghan Lake

Newt Lake

Adit Lakes

Wedgemount Lake

Joffre Lakes

Brandywine Meadows

Black Tusk

Wedgemount Lake

Whistler Train Wreck

Black Tusk

Logger's Lake

Northair Mine

Spectacular Whistler!

Whistler is spectacular in winter! 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 is great year-round and you rarely need snowshoes! Snowshoeing is great now on the Sproatt East Trail. Check out our and December and January guides here!

Meager Hot Springs Hike RatingMeager 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 popularity, Meager Hot Springs had 30,000 yearly visitors. Unfortunately, due to two recent avalanches it seems unlikely to ever officially reopen.  After several years of being closed, access reopened on 2009 with a nice, expensive, new bridge.

  • Amazing large pool & several small pools
  • Visible geological history surrounds Meager
  • Hard to get to, so few people go there
  • Lots of great places for a tent
  • Trail looks across to the 2010 slide path
  • The main pool is huge
  • You will likely have the place to yourself
  • Trail goes through a beautiful forest 
  • Once a busy, pay to use place, now serene! 
  • Accessible only by a long 9k hike

Only to be dramatically obliterated from another slide in 2010. In 2014 the new VOC Harrison Hut Trail was mostly completed, allowing access to Meager Hot Springs once again. Currently this access road is in a bit of a construction zone, so don't be surprised if the road is blocked by a rock slide or road construction.  The old access bridge over the Upper Lillooet River which cost nearly a million dollars was wrecked in seconds in 2010.  There was considerable wrangling and negotiating to get it built in in 2009, but now it will almost certainly never be rebuilt.  The area is far too active.  Access to the springs is now via the new Harrison Trail via the south side of the the Upper Lillooet River, above and beyond the still visible, still awe inspiring, mudslide carnage.  With the catastrophic mud and debris slide let loose from Devastator Peak in 2010, the nice new (in 2009) million dollar bridge to Meager Hot Springs was destroyed.  Though destroyed doesn't even begin to describe it. Looking on the now, dead end road, where the bridge once stood, the place still looks a mess. "Meager Creek FSR is closed indefinitely; no access to the hot springs." This is from the BCParks Upper Lillooet Provincial Park site, and evidently quite accurate.  Dead and still dying grey ghosts of trees still stand as they did in piles of forest wreckage.  Even the road in looks bizarre. The road was simply bulldozed back to life.  On either side, hemmed in by piles of dirt and dead trees.  The mudslide that did this seems beyond belief. This river valley in the midst of a beautiful, green forest, is a sea of brown.  Mud, dirt, and dead trees. At its peak of popularity in 1994, Meager Hot Springs had 30,000 visitors a year. With the unrestrained numbers, vandalism and violence broke out at the springs often so the BC Forest Service stepped in. They hired an on-site supervisor, limited vehicle access and charged a usage fee. Then the big slide of 2010 happened and now of course it only gets a few, very motivated visitors.  In the last couple years BC Ministry of Forests and Recreation Sites and Trails BC have been aggressively blocking public access to both Meager Hot Springs and Keyhole Hot Springs. Currently, in 2023 they have blocked both access roads with gates to the trailheads and are threatening to issue violation tickets. The warning reads: SITE CLOSED: Meager Hot Springs are within Lil̓wat Nation territory. This is a place of cultural and spiritual significance for Lil̓wat Nation. The site closure supports the protection of important cultural, environmental, and wildlife values. The Meager Creek Drainage is prone to extremely large landslides, avalanches, and flooding/washouts. The Province will be enforcing this closure and will issue violation tickets to anyone caught ignoring the restrictions. They don't appear to have any legitimate reasons for the closures and are clearly making up vague things to justify blocking public access. For example: "Mineral licks at the hot springs provide wildlife with year-round nutrients. The hot springs are also home to the vivid dancer damselfly, a species of special concern that is threatened by intensive recreational use. Meager Creek Hot Springs is the only known location within BC where the American bulrush (Schoenoplectus americanus) grows".

VOC Trail to Meager Creek Hot Springs

Meager Creek Hot Springs TrailIn 2014 a new route was built to Meager Creek Hot Springs by the UBC Varsity Outdoor Club. The new VOC Harrison Hut Trail regains access to the much prized Harrison Hut, but also opens up an excellent access trail to Meager. The trail is long and not too easy, however, and getting to the trailhead is quite an adventure. The logging road deteriorates quickly on the last couple kilometres and you find yourself dodging basketball sized boulders strewn across the road. The old access route to Meager ran along the far(north side) of the Lillooet Forest Service Rd. This new trailhead is located on the near(left or south) side of the Upper Lillooet River and you simply continue along the Pemberton Meadows Road (almost) until you can't go any further.  From the middle of Pemberton to the trailhead is 64 kilometres. The easy to miss trailhead is marked with a small trailhead sign for "VOC Harrison Hut Trail" No mention of Meager Creek Hot Springs on it.

Meager Hot Springs - Hike in Whistler

Meager Hot Springs Map v7

Meager Bridge Before and After

Driving to Meager Hot Springs Map v2

More Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Maps!

Callaghan Lake Maps

Callaghan Lake Park is a relatively untouched wilderness of rugged mountainous terrain. The valley walls were formed by relatively recent glaciation. Evidence of this can be ...
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Ancient Cedars Maps

Ancient Cedars is a nice, easy/moderate 2.6 kilometre(1.6 mile) hiking trail on the far side of Cougar Mountain, just 13.1 kilometres north of Whistler Village. A small, ...
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Sproatt West Maps

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 ...
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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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More Whistler Hiking Trail Maps

Best West Coast Trail Guide 

Whistler & Garibaldi Park Glossary A to Z

Cornice: a wind deposited wave of snow on a ridge, often overhanging a steep slope or cliff.  They are the result of snow building up on the crest of a ...
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Bench: a flat section in steep terrain.  Characteristically narrow, flat or gently sloping with steep or vertical slopes on either side.  A bench can be ...
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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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Back in 2011 Kups, a Whistler local and now professional muralist painted a hauntingly surreal, blue face on the side of this house.  This beautiful ...
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The Cloudraker Skybridge and the Raven’s Eye Cliff Walk are new additions to the summit of Whistler Mountain.  The Cloudraker Skybridge stretches 130 ...
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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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Moraines are glacially deposited ridges of debris that accumulate at the sides or terminus of a glacier.  Lateral moraines form at the sides of glaciers ...
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The second Caterpillar tractor in Parkhurst Ghost Town is considerably harder to find despite being just a few metres from the hulking Caterpillar at the shore ...
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More Hike in Whistler Glossary

Free Camping Gear Delivery to Garibaldi Park

The Best Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Trails!

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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Blackcomb Mountain holds an impressive and ever growing array of hiking trails. From the moment you arrive at the Rendezvous Lodge, you see hiking trails ascend into the distance. The Rendezvous Lodge is ...
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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 Highway ...
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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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More Whistler Hiking Trails & Maps

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