Winter Hiking and Snowshoeing!
Winter hiking and snowshoeing in Whistler is spectacular! Parkhurst Ghost Town and Whistler Train Wreck are adventures into Whistler's past. Brandywine Falls and Bungee Bridge are amazing!
Keyhole Hot Springs (aka Pebble Creek Hot Springs) is located 100 kilometres from Whistler(Village Gate Blvd). Though most of the 100 kilometres is on logging roads, it is driveable by most cars without any trouble. The massive Innergex hydroelectric project has turned this once quiet wilderness into a war-zone. On the plus side, the old logging roads near Keyhole Hot Springs are now well maintained and smooth.
Beautiful drive to get there with lots of sights- Pools at the edge of Upper Lillooet River
- Evidence of Mt Meager's eruption 2400 years ago
- Wild & free place in a gorgeous setting
- Campsite is large, spread out & scenic
- Drive through the debris field from 2010
- Trail is packed with geological curiosities
- The impressive Keyhole Falls is nearby
- Upper Lillooet River is beautiful!
Often crowded or closed by park wardens
The hot springs at Keyhole flow out of the ground adjacent to the swirling, crashing and wonderfully glacier coloured water of the Lillooet River. The colour varies with the season, but for the most part it is a wonderful, deep, milky turquoise. When the sunlight penetrates the deep valley, the milky turquoise changes to an unnaturally bizarre, emerald green colour as it swirls all around you. Sitting in the springs you look across to the vertical rock face and the massive, truck sized chunks of it that lay in the river next to you. The Lillooet is fed from various glaciers and snowy mountains visible all the way to Pemberton. At the Lillooet River crossing in Pemberton Meadows take a look in the distance and you will make out the spectacularly jagged and violent looking peak of Mount Meager. It is also a good place to reflect on the fact that Mount Meager produced the larges volcanic eruption in Canada, in the last ten thousand years. It occurred about 2400 years ago and Keyhole and Meager Hot Springs are symptoms of current volcanic activity and another major eruption is possible.
For such a remote place, Keyhole Hot Springs have a pretty elaborate hot springs layout as well as a very large(unmaintained) camping area in the deep forest, high above the hot springs about a 10 minute walk away. Signs of semi-permanent tarp dwellings can be seen in stages of ruin, but overall the campsite area is amazing. With the exception of being dark due to the thick forest and fresh water a steep, 5 minute walk away, it is perched on a wonderful cliff with great views of the river below and cliff and mountains and waterfalls across. If the campsite had a dozen tents within it, you could space them out enough to not see or hear each other fairly easily.
Parking & Trailhead Directions to Keyhole Hot Springs
Keyhole Hot Springs is way to far to realistically bike to and no public transit gets even close. Driving is the only real option, however, Innergex, understandably doesn't seem too welcoming for tourists into the area. They have, however, managed to build this nice trail quite quickly. When you look at the construction sites, it is astounding to note that the hot springs lay absurdly close to enormous sites, before, above and beyond the springs. If you are curious, drive just past the hot springs parking area and take a look(from afar) at the powerhouse excavation site.. breathtaking. From Whistler Drive north on Highway 99 until you reach Pemberton. When you reach Pemberton turn left at the traffic lights(gas station) and after 1k you will come to a roundabout, left here and drive 200 metres to the T junction, you will see a sign for "The Meadows" turn right here and and another "The Meadows" sign in a couple hundred metres pointing left.
More info for Keyhole Hot Springs..
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Garibaldi Park Wildlife & History
Plants of the Whistler Region is an excellent book that includes great pictures and descriptions of most trees you will find in Whistler. Small enough to fit in your pocket and comprehensive enough to identify most things you will encounter growing in the forests of Whistler. Along with conifer trees and broadleaf trees the book has chapters on flowers, berries, ferns and shrubs. You can find Plants of the Whistler Region on Amazon, the Whistler Library and at Armchair Books in Whistler Village. The author Collin Varner has a wonderful series of Plants of.. books on various regions beyond Whistler. Plants of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, Plants of the Gulf and San Juan Islands and Southern Vancouver Island, and Plants of the West Coast Trail. In the last couple years he has started a new series of books. The Flora and Fauna of Coastal British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest and Edible and Medicinal Flora of the West Coast: British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. A Passion for Mountains by Kathryn Bridge is a fascinating look at Don and Phyllis Munday's prolific exploration of the mountains in BC. Based out of Vancouver, they were dominant figures of the climbing community in the early 1900's. In 1923 they visited their friend Neal Carter in Alta Lake(Whistler) and explored the mountains around the valley.. many for the first time!
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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
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