Hike Rating 7Brandywine 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 metres of elevation in just 3 kilometres(1.9 miles), trailhead to meadows.  The trailhead is tricky to find and involves a fairly long gravel road journey that is passable without a 4x4, but barely.

  • Far quieter than Whistler & Garibaldi Park hikes
  • Short, though steep trail is dog friendly
  • On a sunny day the valley is impossibly beautiful
  • Alpine beyond the meadows is endless & amazing
  • Brandywine Mountain is fairly easy to hike to
  • 4x4ing to the hut is an adventure & shortens the hike
  • Views of far off Mount Garibaldi are amazing
  • Awful gravel access road and no direction signs
  • Mosquitoes are horrible in July & August
  • Noisy ATV's use the access roads

Whistler & Garibaldi Park

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Not that the road is potholed, which it is, but that it is at times very steep and strewn with loose boulders.  Brandywine Meadows is used mainly for snowmobiling in the winter months and the bumpy ex-logging road to the trailhead is in poor condition in the summer.  The Brandywine Meadows trail and access roads to it are for snowmobiles & ski touring only in the winter months. No free public access until the snow melts and the snowmobiling season comes to an end, usually in mid May.  You will know it is open just a couple minutes after you turn off the highway onto Callaghan Road.  Take your first left and drive past the treatment plant and quickly come to an enormous gravel parking lot. This is the snowmobile parking lot and the toll booth will be there and manned if the season is still on. If not, and the parking lot is deserted and with no snow, you may be able to continue. Keep in mind that snow can persist well into May, sometimes June, on the Brandywine Meadows access road. So avoid Brandywine Meadows until June to avoid disappointment. If you have a dog, you will find that Brandywine Meadows is one of the few really nice, dog friendly hiking trails in and around Whistler. Garibaldi Park prohibits dogs, as well as both Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain. Here you won't be bothered by anyone and find no signs of humanity beyond some leftover remnants of the snowmobile season.

Brandywine Meadows Map v8

Bundles of orange poles for marking the snowmobile route are sometimes left behind or lost in the snow. Occasionally you stumble across a very out of place looking piece of snowmobile. Lost months before when the ground was below several metres of powder snow. The hike is consistently very steep for the first two kilometres. It is at times scenic though, despite being in very deep forest. The trail runs parallel to Brandywine Creek, which is steeply flowing, very loud and quite beautiful at various vantage points. After two kilometres on the Brandywine Meadows trail, the elevation gain levels off and you catch several alpine mountain peaks through the trees. And finally reaching the meadows, the amazing valley stretches into the distance, ending at the formidable mountains. In that grey and white mass of mountain peaks in the distance you will see Brandywine Mountain.

Brandywine Meadows Erratic

Brandywine Meadows Trail View

Brandywine Meadows Hike in Whistler

Brandywine Meadows Erratic

Brandywine Meadows Tent View

Brandywine Meadows Large Map v6

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