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.
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, there are some side-trail variations that can lengthen and vary the route to almost 6 kilometres. Flower Lake is one of these trails and well worth the look.
Certainly one of the more family friendly hikes on in Mount Seymour Park when compared to the more rigorous hikes like the nearby Mount Seymour and Mount Elsay hikes. Though not nearly as pretty as Mystery Lake, Goldie Lake is often quite beautiful. If you are hoping for a swim in an alpine lake then Mystery Lake, also in Mount Seymour Park is the best bet and also family friendly at just 3 kilometres for the roundtrip hike. The trailhead is easy to find once you have reached the main parking lot to Mount Seymour Resort. A nice trail links both lakes so they can be combined into a nice circle route. If you plan to hike both, it is a good idea to hike to Mystery Lake, then follow the trail past the lake as it abruptly descends through a deep forest that emerges quite suddenly at Goldie Lake. Not the easiest connecting trail and early in the summer it will have patches of snow that make it hard to not get lost. The steepness on some sections and the fact that most hikers don't realize there is a great, connecting trail between the lakes means almost everyone misses it. Goldie Lake is a nice, relaxing and like other trails in Seymour Provincial Park, it is very dog friendly. Mystery Lake tends to be the more popular trail, so you will often find the trail to Goldie Lake quiet by comparison.
The trails on Seymour are very popular in the summer, especially on weekends. If you can manage a day off work to head up there on a mid-week day, you might have the lakes to yourself.. if you are lucky. Mystery Lake is a fun lake for a lovely alpine swim, but you will be disappointed if you are hoping for a swim early in the summer. It is not unusual to find the lakes partially iced over well into June or even early July after particularly snowy winters.
Explore Vancouver Hiking Trails!
St Mark's Summit is a relatively easy way to get hiking deep into Vancouver's amazing mountains. Starting this hike at Cypress means you drive most of the elevation. Even though you still have another ...
The busy Mount Seymour trail in Mount Seymour Provincial Park is a locals favourite. It is challenging and an excellent workout at 4 kilometres from the trailhead to the summit. The views are phenomenal. On a ...
Pacific Spirit Park surrounds the University of British Columbia on the shores of Georgia Straight. The park has a beautiful array of trails, 73 kilometres in total, that run along beaches, some old growth ...
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 ...
Skookumchuck Hot Springs (aka: T'sek Hot Springs and St Agnes Well Hot Springs) is located two hours north of Whistler along the edge of Lillooet River. The name Skookumchuck means "strong water" in the ...
The short, scenic and easy hiking trail to Rainbow Falls is found at the same, much more well known trailhead for Rainbow Lake. The trailhead is marked as the Rainbow Trail and the trail quickly ascends ...
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 ...
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 logging town perched on ...
Whistler is an amazing place to hike. Looking at a map of Whistler you see an extraordinary spider web of hiking trails. Easy trails, moderate trails and challenging hiking trails are all available. Another marvellous thing about Whistler is that Garibaldi Provincial ...
Squamish sits in the midst of some amazing places to hike. Garibaldi 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. Add to ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...