A final post - and likely a fairly long one… Mackenzie’s visit was coming to a close, but we had one last epic day in us! Justine and I both took Friday off, and we were doing the double shot of outdoor fun - Squamish and Whistler! We had a morning up the Sea to Sky Gondola, followed by an afternoon/evening in Whistler as a way to round out Mackenzie’s visit and enjoy the last of the sunshine.
At the top of the Sea to Sky Gondola in Squamish
Ready to head up the gondola.
On the suspension bridge.
Our morning got off to a reasonably early start, as we were making the trek up to Squamish to take the Sea to Sky Gondola up to the trails overlooking Squamish and Howe Sound. The drive up was pretty uneventful and we made good time.
I think we were up to the base of the gondola somewhere between 9:30 and 10:00. Justine and I have season passes, which had the side benefit of getting Mackenzie a discounted pass. And they consider 18 a “youth” still, so even less expensive! A win all around!
It was another beautiful day, with nothing but blue skies. It promised to be our last sunny day for a while (maybe until spring?), so we were happy to take advantage of the day and the great views it would afford us.
After getting our tickets, it was onto the gondola for the trip up the mountain. There were not too many people in line and it meant we got a cabin to ourselves.
As you rise up the mountain - the initial phase of the ride climbs very quickly - you get great views of the Chief as well as views out over Howe Sound. As mentioned, it was a perfect, clear day and the views were endless.
It wasn’t too busy at the top either, and so we spent a little bit of time out on the main deck that overlooks the water. Even having seen it many times, you still appreciate how amazing this part of our country is - I’ll never tire of these views!
We enjoyed the view for a bit before walking across the suspension bridge - our second one this week! This one is a lot longer but much more stable than the one in Lynn Canyon. It was starting to get busy, so we headed out onto the trails. I’m sue Mackenzie was tired of all this hiking we were making her do!
As it hadn’t snowed in well over a week, we didn’t need snow shoes, but the ice cleats did come in very handy and make walking the trails much easier. They were a good buy. We decided to do two of the shorter trails at the top, as heading into the backcountry wasn’t really on our list for the day. The first trail was the Panorama loop, which lives up to the name.
Off on our first short hike!
The Panorama Trail is a fairly short loop that takes you out through the forest to a look out over Squamish and the Chief. They have built a nice cantilevered look out point that gives you great views. We had such a great day for it and it was fairly quiet on the trails. It meant the could take our time and enjoy all the spots along the trail that we wanted to check out.
The trail loops back to the same entry point near the main lodge. We wanted to explore some more, so we walked down and watched the snow tubing for a bit. It looks pretty fun, but you have to walk back after tubing down the hill. We watched for a little bit then walked over the Wonderland Lake Loop trailhead. It’s another relatively short, scenic trail that we thought we’d do before grabbing some lunch in the lodge.
Off on hike #2
This trail takes you down to (as the name suggests) Wonderland Lake, a small pond in the forest. The pond had frozen poorly, so it wasn’t as picturesque as I had hoped it might be. The nicest part of the hike ended up being the last part, as we were walking back to the lodge. The trail takes you past a large rock outcropping that was covered in ice, making for a great, wintery scene.
The map of our little hikes. The top loop is Panorama and the bottom is Wonderland Lake.
A good look at the full suspension bridge.
After wrapping up our two short hikes, we headed inside for some lunch. The food is generally pretty good, and we had a nice lunch. After eating, we browsed the gift shop and Mackenzie bought a couple of things to take home. We then headed back down on the gondola. We got changed into fresh cloths and then hopped back in the truck and continued the drive north to Whistler.
Whistler
Whistler was one of the places that Mackenzie wanted to see on this trip, and I was happy that we caught it on such a nice day. The drive up was amazing - it is very scenic and with it being such a beautiful day, Mackenzie could really enjoy the trip. We had made a dinner reservation at the Brewpub at 6:30, and as it was early afternoon when we arrived, we had lots of time to explore.
After parking in one of the day lots, we started with doing a walk over to the Blackcomb side of the resort. The walk took us through a small forested area, across a covered bridge over a small river that runs through the area.
The Fairmont is on the Blackcomb side, and has a series of shops, including a nice art gallery that we like to explore. There is also a great, classic resort lobby bar. We looked around a bit before heading back the way we came. Once over in the Whistler Village, we did the “stroll” wandering through the different sections of the Village, checking out the shops and restaurants and doing a bit of people watching. We made a stop at one of the little restaurants and had a drink while watching the sites.
Longhorns - a legendary Whistler bar. Despite being early in the afternoon, it looked like there was some sort of wedding party going on. The chanpagne was being “gondola’d out” to the party goers. It was loud and everyone looked like they were already having a really good time. It was the perfect way to introduce Mackenzie to the Whistler scene.
Eventually it was time for us to grab dinner. The food was good and we had a nice evening. The Brewpub is at the far end of the Village, next to the Olympic Plaza. There’s a small skating rink and they had set-up a cool (if small) hill for kids to toboggan on. It was pretty busy and everyone was having a good time when we went in for dinner. After dinner, when we came back up, the whole area was beautifully lit up.
After dinner we walked back to the truck to call it a night. It had been a very full day. Before heading out we walked back into the small forest area near the river. It had looked in the daylight like there were lots of nice lights, so we wanted to check it out. There ended up being lots of cool things to see!
The drive home in the dark was thankfully uneventful as the roads were clear. Saturday the rain moved in and we had a relaxing day at home. After all the hiking we had forced Mackenzie to do while she was here, I think the down day was welcome. Sunday, sadly, we had to take Mackenzie to the airport and put her on a plane home. We think that she had a good time, and we certainly enjoyed having her stay with us!