Oct 10th, 2022: Jane Lakes consist of three lakes that are well hidden in the vast wilderness adjacent to Whistler’s Interpretive ForestWest Jane Lake, East Jane Lake and Little Jane Lake are all so engulfed in the forest that they remain unseen until just a few metres away from the shore.  So hidden in fact, that when you do catch a glimpse of West Jane Lake, the biggest of the three, you can’t help but be shocked at the sudden sprawling view.

Whistler & Garibaldi Hiking

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It's not so much the grand size of West Jane Lake, though it is shockingly, unexpectedly, wonderfully huge.  But the absolutely perfect reflection off the mirror-like surface of the lake to show Black Tusk as you’ve never seen it before.  The wondrous geologic anomaly that captivates hikers in Garibaldi Park, skiers on Whistler Mountain and everyone that has driven almost anywhere in Whistler, is now both surprisingly close and perfectly twinned by the mirror reflection off the water.  West Jane Lake is just 700 metres long, but the first vantage point you get when you see it through the trees seems to magnify it.  You kind of expect a small lake, like Newt Lake on Cougar Mountain, or Alpha Lake in Creekside.  But this lake has sections of vertical cliffs and a substantial and unbroken wilderness around it.  The forest is so deep around the lake that, even if there were other people around, you would never spot them.  No visible trails across the lake, no cut trees, no other hikers.  Nothing at all.  Just absolute silence.  Fall hiking in Whistler has a subtle serenity that you just don't get in the much busier summer months.

West Jane Lake View of Black Tusk

Jane Lakes is a surprising contrast to Whistler Interpretive Forest which border cuts across the eastern end of East Jane Lake.  Here at the western edge of West Jane Lake you have pristine wilderness and perfect solitude.  The Interpretive Forest exhibits wide sections of cut forests and interpretive signs depicting the replanting of several areas.  The once thickly forested 8 kilometre drive to the Cheakamus Lake trailhead, used to be a deep dive into British Columbia’s Coastal Rainforest.  This past spring the dark, serene forest was gutted and transformed into a haunted wasteland of tree stumps.  A preventative measure to create a defensive zone to halt a forest fire that could potentially sweep through the valley.  Both strategically prudent and expensive, measures like this hedge bets against forest fire catastrophes in the near future, but slash and tear the beauty out of a forest in the present. 

Jane Lakes Beautiful Wilderness

Jane Lakes have somehow remained a perfect wilderness, despite laying in the shadow of a giant chainsaw.  The chainsaws revved up a dozen years ago, but a small but resonating outcry centred around the environmental effect on the fish population but the kibosh on that.  A similar, but much less vocal objection to the logging above Parkhurst and around the Wedgemount Lake trailhead fell on deaf ears.  Out of sight and out of mind, the “new” trailhead parking for Wedgemount Lake is startling to say the least.  The sound of cutting and falling trees is a bit unnerving as you get out of your car at the modified trailhead, relocated a couple years ago.

Jane Lakes West Trailhead - Fall Hiking Whistler

Though you do see quite a few big tree stumps along the new Jane Lakes West trail, decades have passed since then and the forest has regrown quite a bit.  The old Jane Lakes Forest Service Road is now the Jane Lakes West trail.  Barricaded with boulders and a deep and wide trench in the last few days, it is now a great hiking and biking trail to the lake.  The 4.1 kilometre trail has been worked by an excavator and dozens of creek beds have been dug across the old road.  A considerable amount of work has gone on over the summer which you quickly notice while hiking the trail.  Every couple minutes you come across a brand new trench across the trail with a small creek flowing through.  Soon, these creeks will be torrents of water and you can’t help but wonder how the water moved before these trenches.  With a couple years of forest growth and bridges across these creeks, it is easy to visualize this trail being quite beautiful. 

Jane Lakes Trail View of Mount Fee

The Jane Lakes West trail already has some great viewpoints and highlights.  Several areas along the trail, you emerge from the trees and get a great view down the valley.  The unmistakable, jagged peak of Mount Fee is nicely visible from several places.  The trail also cuts through large boulder fields from crumbling cliffs.  Further along you come to, and actually trip over a stunning remnant of a geologically recent phenomenon called the Cheakamus Valley basalts.  During the end of the last ice age, basaltic lava flows pools against the retreating glacier that filled Cheakamus Valley.  The rapid cooling of the lava resulted in sets of intersecting, closely spaced fractures that formed regular arrays of angular, six sided columns of stunning symmetry.  At several places along the trail, you come to a cliff wall of these bewildering columns of rock known as columnar jointing.  These alien looking walls are in various stages of crumbling and breaking apart and the Jane Lakes West trail is possibly the best place around to touch and admire them.

Jane Lakes Columnar Jointing

Fall Hiking Whistler Jane Lakes

Fall Hiking Whistler Jane Lakes

Jane Lakes Trail Map

More hiking info, directions and maps for Jane Lakes..

Guides to the Best of Whistler

Best Free Camping in WhistlerBest Free Whistler Camping

Whistler is surrounded by an immense wilderness dotted with spectacular, hidden lakes and amazing places to set up a tent. Decades of logging activity has left a network of forest service roads that has opened easy access to these places. Some of these you can drive to and some you may need a 4x4 to comfortably get to. Some places to camp for free you can drive to, some require a short hike and others are fairly long hikes to reach. Beautiful Callaghan Valley is home to several incredible and free places to campCallaghan Lake has a great free drive-to campsite just steps from this spectacular alpine lake. If you have a canoe, you can paddle to the end of Callaghan Lake and hike the short, but steep trail up to Cirque Lake. This gorgeous lake is deep in the alpine wilderness... Continued here.

Whistler Hiking Trails for KidsKid Friendly Whistler Hiking Trails

There are plenty of excellent, kid and family friendly hiking trails and destinations in and around Whistler. Kid and family friendly generally means an easy and somewhat short trail that a toddler can happily manage. Some of these trails are flat enough to be stroller friendly, such as Brandywine FallsWhistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain. Others such as Logger’s LakeCheakamus River and Madeley Lake have short enough trails to reach them that you can manage with little kids that don't want to hike too far. Some of these hikes and walks are popular and close to Whistler Village, like Whistler MountainBlackcomb MountainLost Lake ParkRainbow Park and Meadow Park. Others are a beautiful, but far drive into the mountains and tricky to find... Continued here.

Best Whistler Dog Friendly Hiking TrailsBest Dog Friendly Hiking Trails

Whistler is very dog friendly and the number of wonderful hiking trails that your dog will love is huge. The massively varied hiking trails range from easy, short, close to Whistler Village to challenging, long and deep in the endless wilderness around Whistler. You can find dog friendly trails in and around Whistler Village that take you through deep, dark and magical forests. Or you can drive beyond Whistler Village and take your dog to spectacular alpine lakes. Some requiring little or no hiking, while others are found after hiking challenging and long trails. Many of these places are comparatively quiet and often you and your dog will have the the wilderness to yourselves. In and around Whistler Village you have Lost Lake with its spider web of trails... Continued here.

More Whistler Updates!

Sept 11th, 2022: The notoriously difficult biking trail in the wilderness between Emerald Forest and Rainbow Park is a pretty fun place to wander around.  It ...
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Oct 10th, 2022: Jane Lakes consist of three lakes that are well hidden in the vast wilderness adjacent to Whistler’s Interpretive ForestWest Jane Lake, ...
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January 2nd, 2023: The Rubble Creek trailhead to Garibaldi Provincial Park is consistently snowplowed this season.  The two kilometre access road is still ...
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October 22nd, 2022: The Cal-Cheak campground just south of Whistler sits in a tranquil, huge tree forest, nestled between Callaghan Creek and Cheakamus ...
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Amazing Hiking Trails in Whistler

Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Glossary A to Z

Wedge Creek cuts through the valley that separates Wedge Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain and empties into Green River near the north end of Green Lake.  ...
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Mills Winram was a very active mountaineer from Vancouver with some very notable ascents in the 1920's and 1930's.  He, along with Fred Parkes and Stan ...
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Twentyone Mile Creek begins its long and steep journey from Rainbow Lake, high up and between Mount Sproatt and Rainbow Mountain.  Cutting between the two ...
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Fitzsimmons Creek is the beautiful and huge creek that crashes through Whistler Village.  When walking from Whistler Village to the Upper Village, you will cross ...
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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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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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The Coast Mountains run from the Yukon down to Vancouver along the west coast of British Columbia in a band that averages 300 kilometres wide(190 miles).  ...
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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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Whistler & Garibaldi Park Best Hiking by Month!

Hiking in Whistler in October is often unexpectedly stunning.  The days are much shorter and colder but the mountains are alive with colour from the fall ...
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November in Whistler is when the temperatures plummet and the first heavy snow falls in the alpine and often in Whistler Village.  The hiking opportunities become ...
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December hiking in Whistler is mainly done on snowshoes, though not always. If it hasn't snowed much recently then trails such as Whistler Train Wreck and ...
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There are plenty of beautiful and free snowshoe trails in Whistler and Garibaldi Provincial Park.  From the surreal paintings of Whistler Train Wreck to ...
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Free Camping Gear Delivery to Garibaldi Park

Explore BC Hiking Destinations!

Whistler Hiking Trails

Hiking in Whistler is spectacular and wonderfully varied. Looking at a map of Whistler you see an extraordinary spider web of hiking trails that are unbelievably numerous. Easy trails, moderate trails and challenging hiking trails are all available. Another marvellous ...
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Squamish Hiking Trails

Squamish is located in the midst of a staggering array of amazing hiking trails. Garibaldi Provincial Park sprawls alongside Squamish and up and beyond Whistler. Tantalus Provincial Park lays across the valley to the west and the wonderfully remote Callaghan Valley ...
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Vancouver is surrounded by seemingly endless hiking trails and mountains to explore.  Massive parks line up one after another.  Mount Seymour Provincial Park, Lynn Canyon Park, Grouse Mountain, Cypress Park and the enormous Garibaldi Park all contribute to Vancouver ...
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Clayoquot Sound has a staggering array of hiking trails within it.  Between Tofino and Ucluelet, Pacific Rim Park has several wilderness and beach trails, each one radically different from the last.  The islands in the area are often Provincial parks on their own with ...
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Victoria Hiking Trails

Victoria has a seemingly endless number of amazing hiking trails.  Most take you to wild and beautiful Pacific Ocean views and others take you to tranquil lakes in beautiful BC Coastal Rainforest wilderness.  Regional Parks and Provincial Parks are everywhere you turn in ...
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The West Coast Trail

The West Coast Trail was created after decades of brutal and costly shipwrecks occurred along the West Coast of Vancouver Island.  One shipwreck in particular was so horrific, tragic and unbelievable that it forced the creation of a trail along the coast, which ...
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