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Cirque Lake

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Northair Mine

Newt Lake

Callaghan Lake

Adit Lakes

Wedgemount Lake

Joffre Lakes

Whistler Train Wreck

Black Tusk

Black Tusk

Wedgemount Lake

Logger's Lake

Amazing Fall Hiking!

Fall is here! Check out our Best Whistler Hiking by Month for inspiration! WeRentGear.com rents tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, camp stoves, packs, complete kits and more!

Best Trails This Week!

Best This Week: Parkhurst Ghost Town, Sloquet and Skookumchuck Hot Springs, Rainbow Falls, Logger's Lake, Sproatt East, Cheakamus River, Joffre, and Whistler Train Wreck.

Ancient Cedars Hike RatingAncient 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, untouched grove of huge western redcedar hidden high up in the mountains. Often overlooked by hikers, certainly there are other groves of massive cedars found in other Whistler area hikes.

  • Easy trail to thousand year old cedars
  • Remote feeling escape from civilisation
  • A quiet hiking trail that is dog friendly!
  • Serene backcountry, drive-in camping for free
  • Lots of hidden & amazing tent sites
  • Newt Lake is wild, hidden & serene
  • Abandoned cabin at Showh Lakes
  • Lots of mosquitoes in June to August
  • ATV's tours in the area are noisy
  • The access logging road is brutally potholed

If you hike the short 3 kilometre trail to Cheakamus Lake and you will marvel at the size, frequency and wonderful aroma of these massive and numerous giant cedars. The Wedgemount Lake trail also has some majestic cedars along the hike. You can even walk through an impressive grove of huge cedars on the Valley Trail at the north end of the Whistler Golf Club. None of them compare, however, to the giants at Ancient Cedars.  They are extraordinarily huge and some are estimated to be a thousand years old.  Most of these giants stretch toward the sky, but some lay along the forest floor giving you an even closer grasp of their size. If you bring kids along, they will disappear into the endless, natural playground.  Ancient Cedars is great to visit in the spring and fall months as you rarely see people and are less likely to encounter mosquitoes. The problem is the trailhead is up a long way into the mountains and snow at this elevation persists until April and sometimes May. Snow, along with the steep access road make driving to the trailhead impossible for most cars until it disappears. Summer is great for seeing Ancient Cedars and Showh Lakes in particular.  If you have a 4x4, you can drive right to the shores of Showh Lakes and crack a beer with little chance of humanity disturbing you. If you don't have a 4x4, you can make it to a short walk to the lakes and if you have some sort of inflatable boat or canoe, you will find yourself in paradise. Floating in a mirror under a blue sky, surrounded by deep and wild forest.

Finding Ancient Cedars

The trailhead to Ancient Cedars is just a short drive north of Whistler. Just past Green Lake on Highway 99, you turn left on Cougar Mountain Road and drive 4.5 kilometres up a bumpy logging road. As logging roads go its pretty bad with a lot of deep potholes.  If you are driving a car you should be OK as long as you take it slow. The Ancient Cedars trail is well marked and well worn and only gradually uphill for the 2.6 kilometre hike.  At the Ancient Cedars forest there is a short circle trail that takes you throughout the giants then leads you back to the main trail for the return journey.  An unmarked trailhead to Newt Lake starts at the end of the Ancient Cedars trail.  The Newt Lake trail is wild, overgrown and fairly steep, but surprisingly enjoyable.  Lots of wild forest scenery and constantly changing topography.  At the end of the wild Newt Lake trail is the beautifully wild Newt Lake.  Relatively unknown, this lake is rarely visited and you will often have it all to yourself.  Fantastic!

Ancient Cedars Map Large v10a

Ancient Cedars Hike in Whistler

Ancient Cedars huge redcedars

Ancient Cedars and Showh Lakes

Though Ancient Cedars is the main focus for visitors in the area, there are branching trails to two other beautiful areas, Newt Lake and Showh Lakes.  Showh Lakes are just a few hundred metres from Ancient Cedars and trails and logging roads connect them.  Partway along the trail to Ancient Cedars you will see a branching trail to Showh Lakes.  There is another connecting trail extending from the Ancient Cedars grove as well, but it is hard to spot and quite overgrown.  If you have a 4x4 you can drive the old logging road up to the lakes and branching roads extend in a few directions.  The road is pretty bad, especially after the crossroads next to Showh Lakes, so its a good idea to park there and continue on foot to the lake or the various interesting areas overlooking the lakes.

Showh Lakes Sunrise

At the north end of the larger of the two Showh Lakes you will find the remains of an old house and a derelict yurt platform.  The area is quite beautiful and serene and the house is teetering over and hilarious to see.  You can even climb the increasingly spiral stairs to the collapsing deck and into the old cabin.

Showh Lakes Teetering House

Showh Lakes House Inside

Back across the larger of the two Showh Lakes a very nice hiking trail runs through the forest and along the south shore of the lake.  The trail then enters the forest and connects to the Ancient Cedars trail.

Ancient Cedars Showh Lakes

Showh Lakes Map v4a

Ancient Cedars Newt Lake Map

The Ancient Cedars trail is a fairly relaxing, though constantly ascending trail up to the beautifully hidden forest.  At just 2.6 kilometres, the hike is well under an hour from the trailhead to the loop trail through the ancient grove.  At the far end of the loop an unmarked trail continues to a beautiful and very remote feeling lake.

Newt Lake Trailhead 2021 2

The Newt Lake trail from the end of the Ancient Cedars trail to Newt Lake is just 2.4 kilometres long, though much more challenging than the Ancient Cedars trail.  It winds through the weather battered and mangled rainforest up towards Cougar Mountain.  It is a constantly ascending and often very steep trail, though due to its short length most hikers should make it to the lake in just over an hour.  Starting from the Ancient Cedars trailhead/parking it is about a 2 hour hike one way.  Though it is steep and sometimes hard to follow, it is not so much difficult as it is exhausting.  The trail is extremely well marked, which is very helpful as the route zigzags constantly and the forest is scattered with deadfall. 

Newt Lake Deadfall

This chaotic landscape makes the trail interesting and surprisingly enjoyable as your eyes dart from one interesting thing to another.  From deadfall craning menacingly over your head, to trees grasping enormous boulders with their roots, you find yourself often having to backtrack because you miss a tree marker and wandered off the trail to get a look at something wonderfully strange.

Newt Lake Lithophyte

After hiking the erratic trail though chaotic forest you come to Newt Lake, a perfectly serene mountain lake well hidden along the west flank of Cougar Mountain.  The wild forest trail fades away as you reach the shore of the lake.  On the right, you can cross a swampy area and climb up to a beautiful rock outcrop overlooking the lake.  The left side of the lake is far more interesting and scenic, though you do have to scramble over a massive boulder field.

Amazing Newt Lake

You have to be a little brave to crawl over the fridge sized morass of boulders that have crumbled from the steep cliffs above.  For the most part you can navigate a reasonably safe route, but occasionally you wonder if the next boulder you jump to will shift and cause the truck sized one next to it to tip over and flatten you.

Newt Lake Rocky Route

If you do manage the sketchy, couple hundred metres of leapfrogging you will come to a beautiful rock outcrop in the middle of the lake.  Surrounded by trees this little oasis is just far enough away from the boulder field to make you feel safe from the crumbling cliff.  The rock outcrop steeply ends at the lake and staring down into the clear, blue water it is far to deep to see the bottom and a wonderful place to jump in.

Newt Lake Rock Outcrop

Beyond the rock outcrop the boulder field becomes even more menacing, with the boulders larger and piled higher and more precariously.  They certainly add to the hostile beauty of Newt Lake as you wonder how thundering the sound must have been when these monsters came crashing down.

Newt Lake's Wonderful Boulders

Newt Lake Map v5a

History of Ancient Cedars

Back in the late 1980's workers building a bike trail on the lower part of Cougar Mountain discovered a small grove of stunningly enormous western redcedars.  Several noted at the time were over 10 feet in diameter.  Core samples were taken and indicated that the trees were likely close to 1000 years old. The Coast Douglas-firs in the grove were similarly ancient and estimated to be no less than 650 years old.  Suddenly it became evident that word of these monsters would reach the logging companies and the magnificent ancient grove would be turned into lumber.  More...

Ancient Cedars History Article

Ancient Cedars, Showh and Newt Lake Directions Map v2

More Ancient Cedars Info Here

More Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Maps!

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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Cheakamus River Maps

Cheakamus River is the beautiful, crashing and turquoise coloured river that flows from Cheakamus Lake, through the Cheakamus Valley to Daisy Lake.  Also a popular kayaking ...
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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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Parkhurst Ghost Town Maps

Whistler has an absurd number of wonderful and free hiking trails and Parkhurst Ghost Town certainly ranks as one of the most unusual, exotic and interesting. Parkhurst was a little ...
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More Whistler Hiking Trail Maps

West Coast Trail Best Sights

Whistler & Garibaldi Park Glossary A to Z

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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The Pacific yew or western yew is a coniferous tree that grows in Whistler and along the coast from Alaska to California. The Pacific yew’s unique ...
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Scree: from the Norse “skridha”, landslide.  The small, loose stones covering a slope. Also called talus, the French word for slope. Scree is mainly formed ...
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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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Mountain hemlock is a species of hemlock that thrives along the west coast of North America from Alaska to California. In Whistler and Garibaldi Park you ...
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Hoary Marmots are the cute, pudgy, twenty plus pound ground squirrels that have evolved to live quite happily in the hostile alpine areas around Whistler.  ...
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Hidden in the tangle of forest along Green Lake where the old Parkhurst Sawmill once operated, is the bizarre and beautiful Parkhurst Plow Tree.  A very ...
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Alpine Zone or Alpine Tundra is the area above the treeline, often characterized by stunted, sparse forests of krummholz and pristine, turquoise lakes.  Mount ...
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Rent Hiking Gear Whistler and Garibaldi Park

The Best Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Trails!

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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Brandywine Meadows is a nice, relatively short hike to a massive flower filled valley high up in Callaghan Valley. Located 40 minutes south of Whistler, this tough and sometimes muddy trail gains a huge 550 ...
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Joffre Lakes Provincial Park is a gorgeous park with extraordinarily coloured lakes, waterfalls, stunning mountain peaks and ominous glaciers pouring into the valley.  Joffre Lakes is one of those incredible ...
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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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