Day 4 – The Grueling Hike

Day 4… we awoke in Whistler to a beautiful warm day with clear skies. We stuffed ourselves with some strawberry pop tarts, packed my backpack full of stuff and headed to the mountains. Today we were going hiking, Cindy’s favorite part of the trip! (ha)

We took the Whistler mountain gondola up to the top of the normal ski lifts and then took an open chair lift to the very peak of Whistler Mountain. We had our picture taken with the big stone monument thing that is the official symbol of the Vancouver Winter Olympics and then went off on what was supposed to be a pretty easy hike, you know, mostly downhill and stuff. After all, we were starting at the top and hiking down a ways.

The hike started off great. The trail was a bit rough but it was downhill and the views were pretty spectacular of the area around. We then traversed across the side of Whistler Mountain and got to see great views of a gorgeous lake with blue-green water. It was there, at the lake, that the going got a little tough. We had lost quite a bit of elevation and we then had to hike back up over the ridge and around a smaller peak. I said that in one sentence, but let me tell ya, it was not that easy. Cindy and I are both feeling that part of the trail in our thighs and calves today. It was like going up a steep set of twisted stairs and that just kept going and going and going… yeah… and it got pretty hot up there. Cindy’s neck got sunburned pretty badly.

Well, we did finally make it back to the chair lift and in the process we met up with a girl named Alanna (I think) from Montreal who was hiking by herself and also bit off a little more than she could chew on the trail. She was good company as we all then took the Peak to Peak Gondola from the top of Whistler Mountain over to Blackcomb Mountain. Usually, lifts take you from the bottom to the top of a mountain or vice verse. This gondola actually takes you from the top of one mountain to the either and boasts the longest unsupported stretch of cable lift in the world. It was really cool and views were fantastic of the valley between the mountains.

At the end of the day we washed off the trail dust and ate dinner at Earl’s in Whistler Village. We then drove over to Lost Lake at sunset, a little mountain lake that is really peaceful compared of the bustle of Whistler Village.