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  • Run
      • Whistler Golf Course 5k(3.1 Mile)
      • Blueberry Hill 6k(3.7 Mile)
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      • Alta Green Lost 15k(9.3 Mile)
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  • AtoZ
      • Ablation Zone
      • Accumulation Zone
      • Adit Lakes
      • Aiguille
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      • Arborlith or Lithophyte
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      • A River Runs Through It
      • Armchair Glacier
      • The Barrier
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      • Bungee Bridge
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      • Erratic or Glacier Erratic
      • The Fissile
      • Fitzsimmons Creek
      • Fitzsimmons Range
      • Fyles, Tom
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      • Garibaldi Volcanic Belt
      • Gemel or Inosculation
      • Glacier Window
      • Green Lake
      • Hoary Marmot
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      • Moraine
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      • Northair Mine
      • Nunatuk
      • Overlord Mountain & Glacier
      • Peak2Peak Gondola
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      • Rubble Creek
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      • Tarn
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Newt Lake

Black Tusk

Cirque Lake

Black Tusk

Brandywine Meadows

Whistler Train Wreck

Joffre Lakes

Wedgemount Lake

Northair Mine

Adit Lakes

Logger's Lake

Callaghan Lake

Wedgemount Lake

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!

Russet Lake is a surreal little paradise that lays at the base of The Fissile. The Fissile is the strikingly bronze mountain visible from Whistler Village.  From the Village look into the distance at the Peak2Peak hanging between Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain and you will see The Fissile. Its pyramid shape in the distance perfectly separates the two mountains.

  • At least 5 amazing routes to this hidden paradise
  • The Fissile looms ominously over the lake
  • Overlord Glacier fills the valley below and across
  • Part of the Spearhead Traverse
  • Every direction you look is shockingly beautiful
  • Adit Lakes is a hidden world nearby
  • Scrambling routes up & beyond The Fissile!
  • Musical Bumps Trail to Russet is very beautiful
  • Russet Lake is not as beautiful as other lakes
  • The old 5k access road is inaccessible due to slide

Though Russet Lake is not terribly impressive in terms of size or colour, the valley around it is remarkably beautiful. The colours change from moment to moment in and extraordinary way. The distinctive colour of The Fissile and the stark grey of the mountains around contrast amazingly with the blue of the lake and green grass in the valley. So many different factors fill the place with colour.  There are several ways to get to hike Russet Lake.  The Singing Pass trail from the base of Whistler Mountain near the Whistler Gondola. The Musical Bumps trail that begins near the top of the Whistler Gondola.  The High Note trail that begins at the top of the Peak Chair on Whistler Mountain. There is an increasingly popular route that begins from Blackcomb Mountain.  And finally, a very infrequently hiked route from Cheakamus Lake that runs along Singing Creek. In short, the three ways to get to Russet Lake are 1. Musical Bumps (direct route and beautiful), 2. High Note trail (a bit longer but even more beautiful), and the Singing Pass trail (not as nice as the previous two and constantly uphill, but no expensive gondola charge).  All three routes are have signs and well established trails. None are very difficult with the exception of being long trails. Though each can be done in a day, 28 kilometres of hiking in one day is quite a long way.

Russet Lake Hiking Trail Map

Russet Lake is a great place to camp at the end of the lake with a beautiful stream that runs along the camping area. There are no tent platforms but over a dozen tent clearings.  There is a considerable amount of exploring available in the valley around Russet Lake. The Fissile is a difficult but very feasible hike from Russet Lake.  Below Russet Lake is a very accessible glacier as well as a bonanza of glacier formed landscape features, inviting hours of interesting exploration.  Above Russet Lake there is a beautiful snow covered ridge that commands incredible views all around and if you have the energy makes for a spectacular tent site.

Russet Lake Map v20

Russet Lake Sunset, BC Parks Garibaldi Provincial Park

Aerial View of The Fissile and Russet Lake

Musical Bumps Trail to Russet Lake

Moderately Challenging with Steep HillsTaking the Musical Bumps trail that begins at the Roundhouse Lodge on Whistler Mountain is arguably the best route to Russet Lake.  It is fairly direct(12.5 kilometres) to Russet Lake) and full of incredible views. Alpine forests, massive valleys, small alpine lakes, dramatic mountain views all around.  The trail has considerable elevation gain and loss though.  The trail is well marked with signs directing you along the Musical Bumps trail.  You won't see Russet Lake signs until you reach the trail junction at the Singing Pass trail.  This route is a very popular trail running route in Whistler.  From the Roundhouse Lodge to the Village is 24 kilometres, and much of it downhill.  To find the Russet Lake trailhead, take the Whistler Gondola up to the Roundhouse Lodge.  Walk out of the Gondola and past the Peak2Peak Gondola building, up a gravel slope about 50 metres.  On your left you will see a trailhead.

Russet Lake Musical Bumps Trail - Hike in Whistler

Whistler Mountain Russet Lake Map v20

More Russet Lake Hiking Info...

More Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Maps!

Meager Hot Springs Maps

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 ...
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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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Brew Lake Maps

Brew Lake is beautiful mountain lake just a short drive south of Whistler and is relatively unknown and seldom hiked. Laying at the base of Mount Brew, Brew Lake lays in a ...
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Sloquet Hot Springs Maps

Sloquet Hot Springs is a wonderfully wild set of shallow, man-made pools fed by a small, all natural, and very hot, waterfall. The pools stretch from the waterfall to the ...
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More Whistler Hiking Trail Maps

Amazing West Coast Trail Guide

Whistler & Garibaldi Park Glossary A to Z

When hiking to Parkhurst Ghost Town, the first area you will encounter after you cross the disintegrating bridge over Wedge Creek is the wye.  In railroad ...
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Parkhurst Ridge is an incredible place for a lot of reasons.  Of course, the view is spectacular with Green Lake's absurdly vivid green coloured water.  ...
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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 ...
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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, ...
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If you make it to the summit of Wedge Mountain you will notice off in the distance a beautifully symmetrical mountain that stands out among the rest.  ...
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Along Whistler’s Valley Trail near Rainbow Park you come across some impressively unusual trees. Unlike most other Whistler trees with straight trunks and ...
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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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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!

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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Hiking and biking trails are so abundant in Whistler that many go unnoticed, neglected or taken for granted.  The Flank Trail is one of these.  Most people in Whistler don't even know about it, but the ones ...
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Garibaldi Lake is the centre and base for much of the hiking in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The Garibaldi Lake campsite is located on the amazing, turquoise shores of this massive and mostly still wild ...
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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 ...
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More Whistler Hiking Trails & Maps

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