Vancouver is surrounded by seemingly endless hiking trails and mountains to explore. Massive parks line up one after another. Mount Seymour Provincial Park, Lynn Park, Grouse, Cypress and the enormous Garibaldi Provincial Park all contribute to Vancouver being a hiking paradise.
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There are plenty of moderately challenging Vancouver hiking trails to choose from. These are five trails that stand out from the rest. Not too difficult, yet all have sensational views. Hollyburn, Dog Mountain and Seymour are at the end of beautiful drives to reach the trailheads.
The alpine hiking trails on Whistler Mountain are the ultimate in luxurious hiking. Little hiking effort gets you amazing views of turquoise lakes, snowy mountain, valleys of flowers, waterfalls and spectacular glaciers. In the summer months, Whistler Mountain is somewhat divided in two. The lower half of the mountain is for biking and the upper half is for hiking, sightseeing, trail running, eating and drinking.
Endless beautiful trails accessible by gondola
Great way to access Garibaldi Provincial Park
Best vantage point over Cheakamus Lake
Effortless sightseeing as you ride to the trails
Great eating & drinking at the Roundhouse Lodge
Wide range of easy to difficult hiking trails
The Peak Chair is incredible
Trails extend to Russet Lake in Garibaldi Park
Peak to Peak Gondola crosses to Blackcomb
Most trails in Whistler are free, these ones are not
There are a few directions you can start hiking from the Roundhouse Lodge, however, taking the Peak Express(quad chairlift) up to the summit of Whistler Mountain is an amazing place to start. The Peak Express is an exhilarating ride that takes you to the start of Whistler Mountain's best hiking trails. The Half Note Trail, High Note Trail and Mathew's Traverse start here. The High Note Trail in turn leads to the Musical Bumps Trail to Russet Lake and Singing Pass in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The summit of Whistler Mountain is also a destination of its own. Spectacular views all around from this rocky, alpine summit visible from almost everywhere in Whistler. Black Tusk comes into view as you exit the Peak Express. This amazingly distinct pinnacle of jet-black rock is a local icon and remnant of a not too distant history of volcanism in the area. As you admire its absurdly vertical form, remind yourself that there is almost certainly a few hikers looking back at you from its summit. Looking right as you get off the Peak Express you will see an enormous inuksuk. A remnant of the 2010 Olympic Games and now a fixture in thousands of photos. This beautiful stacking of huge rocks is a take-away from the Inuit tradition of marking routes in an otherwise stark landscape with a human form. The inuksuk is part of the Whistler Summit Interpretive Walk. This 1.6 kilometre(1 mile), trail takes you along an excellent route around the summit of Whistler to one amazing viewpoint after another.
Branching off of the Whistler Summit Interpretive Walk you will see the High Note Trail extend toward the rocky cliffs. The High Note Trail is a beautiful trail that skirts the edge of Whistler Mountain for several kilometres before bending back around Whistler to the Roundhouse Lodge. A total of 9.4 kilometres(6 miles), the High Note Trail is a must-see trail on Whistler. For much of the trail you have Cheakamus Lake down the valley on your right. This huge lake fills the valley below with an extraordinarily vivid turquoise colour. This amazing colour caused by glacial meltwater filling the lake with suspended particles of rock which in turn reflect the light in a strikingly beautiful way.
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, ...
Mount Fromme is the thickly forested mountain next to Grouse Mountain. If looking from the direction of downtown Vancouver, Fromme is just to the right. It is infrequently hiked, at least partly due to the high ...
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 ...
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 ...
Levette Lake is a nice mountain lake located in the enormous Squamish Valley that drains Squamish River into Howe Sound. There are some nice views and minimal elevation gain along the trail. The amazing ...
Alice Lake is a great place for camping swimming, fishing and hiking. Alice Lake Provincial Park is comprised of four lakes. Stump, Fawn and Edith Lake as well as the much larger Alice Lake. There is a nice ...
The wonderful Upper Shannon Falls trail is now 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 ...
Cheakamus Lake is a wonderfully relaxing way to get in the wilderness easily and quickly from Whistler Village. The trail begins on the far side of Whistler Mountain, 8 kilometres from the Sea to Sky ...
Callaghan Lake Provincial Park is a relatively untouched wilderness of rugged mountainous terrain. The valley walls were formed by relatively recent glaciation. Evidence of this can be seen in the ...
The trail to Whistler Train Wreck is an easy, yet varied route through deep forest, across a great suspension bridge over Cheakamus River, to a stunning array of wrecked train cars. The trail from your car ...