Squamish sits in the midst of some amazing places to hike. Garibaldi Provincial Park sprawls from Squamish up and beyond Whistler. Tantalus Provincial Park lays across the valley to the west and the beautiful and desolate, by comparison, Callaghan Valley to the north.
GaribaldiProvincialPark
Garibaldi Provincial Park wraps around Squamish and is home to some amazing hiking trails. Garibaldi Lake, Panorama Ridge, Black Tusk and Elfin Lakes are all wonderful hiking destinations in this extraordinary Provincial Park so close to Squamish.
Crown Mountain, visible from downtown Vancouver, towers behind Grouse Mountain. It was appropriately named due to its crown shape over 150 years ago by an English captain charting the area. This very challenging hike offers some phenomenal views from its summit, deep in the North Shore Mountains. There are three main ways to reach the amazing Crown Mountain.
As it is located near Grouse Mountain, the most direct way to reach it is via Grouse Mountain. You can either hike the Grouse Grind for free or take the SkyRide for about $50 (return). From the Grouse Mountain Chalet the hike to Crown Mountain is 9.4k return and should take about 5 or 6 hours to complete. If you hike/run the Grouse Grind as well then add 2.9 kilometres to the journey there and 3.5 kilometres to the return (via the BCMC trail adjacent to the Grouse Grind) to get back to your car. The third and most challenging way to access Crown Mountain is by beginning and ending at the Lynn Headwaters Regional Park trailhead. This is a tough, but amazing 20k (one way) route to Crown Mountain through the amazing Lynn Valley. This access route to Crown Mountain often opens in late June or even July, Check at the trailhead before you head out on the trail make sure that the trail past Norvan Falls is open. From the Grouse Chalet on Grouse Mountain follow the path under the Peak Chair until you reach the trailhead and hiker check-in station. From here you follow the marked trail to Crown Mountain. You can either hike via Dam Mountain, or take the easier Alpine Trail. Both are roughly the same distance, but the Alpine Trail is a bit easier.
The trail then leads to Little Goat Mountain the descends into Crown Pass. There are several chain assisted sections here and some tricky scrambling, however, nothing too technical. Goat Mountain is just .7k from the main trail to Crown Mountain and well worth the look if you have the energy. There are few creeks along the Crown Mountain hike so ensure that you bring lots of water.
Rice Lake is a relaxing walk around a cute lake in Lynn Valley. It is a family friendly hike although dogs are not welcome. Roundtrip from your car the trail around the lake is just 3 kilometres and should ...
Mystery Lake is an easy, well marked trail that leads to a cute mountain lake that is perfect for relaxing, swimming or having a picnic. It is just 1.5k to the lake and like the rest of Seymour Park, dogs ...
The Goldie Lake trail in Mount Seymour Provincial Park is a cute, self-guided interpretive trail that runs around this small mountain lake. Although it is less than 4 kilometres for the normal loop trail, ...
Black Mountain can be reached from two different trailheads. The trailhead from Cypress Resort and the original trail off Marine Drive halfway between Horseshoe Bay and Lighthouse Park. The trailhead south of ...
Cirque Lake is a wild and beautiful lake that hides high above and beyond Callaghan Lake in Callaghan Lake Provincial Park. What makes Cirque Lake special among the other sensationally beautiful lakes in the ...
Black Tusk is the extraordinarily iconic and appropriately named mountain that can be seen from almost everywhere in Whistler. The massive black spire of crumbling rock juts out of the earth in an incredibly ...
Panorama Ridge is easily one of the most amazing hikes in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The 15 kilometre(9.3 mile) hike from the trailhead at Rubble Creek to Panorama Ridge takes you through beautiful and deep ...
The wonderful Upper Shannon Falls trail, also called the Sea to Summit trail, branches off from the chaotically popular Stawamus Chief trail. About 15 minutes along the Stawamus Chief trail you will see a ...