Whistler… the path less travelled.

The west coast

The drive from Kelowna to Whistler was the less travelled option. We chose not to drive down through Vancouver as we would be doing that drive later in the trip so we detoured north through Merritt, Spence Bridges, Lilooet and Pemberton. The drive was yet another spectacular drive through some serious mountain territory often on one lane roads.

As this is the season for wild fires we were concerned the routes would close but our route remained clear except for the odd bit of road construction here and there. The air was quite cool up in the mountains and didn’t warm up much by the time we arrived in Whistler. Quite the change from our warm temps in Kelowna.

Riverside Resort

Riverside Resort is an RV campground located minutes from Whistler Village. Reception felt like a regular hotel reception and the place was definitely spruced up! The sites were very close and a little too tight knit for our liking but then again we were in Whistler minutes from the village. And the views more than made up for it. We were in the upper campground area next to the Scandinave Spa.  The campground area was great! We were right on the Valley trail which was great for biking into the village.

The resort had comfort stations that were well appointed with showers and washrooms. The dishwashing station was found out back of the comfort station and was about 15 ft from our site which was handy at meal time.  There were laundry facilities at the main reception building and wifi onsite that seemed pretty decent.

Whistler

Whistler Village was bustling with people. Even with cooler temperatures, it didn’t seem to stop people from milling about or riding the mountains. In the summer months, Whistler is transformed into a mountain biker’s paradise. The mountain terrain is built up on the hill and chair lifts have been switched out for bike lifts.  It was fascinating watching the cyclists tear down the hill at crazy fast speeds.

At one point, we decided to get a better vantage point of the bikers riding around the hills.  While watching the riders, my son points and says ‘hey ..look bear’… and sure enough about 50 ft away and between us and the bottom of whistler mountain was a black bear that had come from the woods just behind us and was racing towards the biking terrain.  What to do….!? We were sort of stuck as the bear was between us and the village.  Luckily the bear scampered off to the trees on the other side of the mountain but I can definitely say, I don’t want to be that close to a wild bear again. Unfortunately I don’t have a photo of the bear.. I was too concerned with getting to safety that the thought of a photo just didn’t seem wise.

Biking

Seeing as the Valley trail was right off our campground, we decided to bike into the village one day.  Surprisingly the way to the village was a slight incline so by the time we arrived, I was in need of a break.  The village is very bike friendly, there are bike racks everywhere and bike lanes/trails are well marked.

Lost Lake

There are a vast number of hiking trails in Whistler. While many take to hiking trails on bikes, we decided to rely on our feet it to get to Lost Lake since mountain territory and biking would require a higher fitness level than we had.   A nice 20 minute hike through the woods yielded the lovely Lost Lake where we took in the beauty of the mountain high lake.