Hello blogosphere, I’ve missed you. I took a year hiatus and I’m back! Bobo and I did a two night stay glamping in a yurt at the Riverside Resort in Whistler and took full advantage of lots of hiking opportunities in the area. I’m actually pretty impressed with how much we squeezed in!

When Bobo and I discovered we had a free weekend I somehow managed to snag this last available Yurt only one week in advance. I had stayed at the Riverside Resort last year for my friends bachelorette in one of their cabins and loved it, so was pumped to head back. This time, glamping style in a YURT! I would 100% stay in this yurt again. One tip is that when I saw photos online, it looked like there wasn’t pillows/duvets on the bed so we overpacked by brining our sleeping bags & pillows. Turns out, the beds had sheets, blankets & pillows, so we didn’t need our own stuff.

We had Jack with us so we were pretty limited on the hikes we were allowed to do since Garibaldi, Wedgmount Lake & now Joffre lakes are a no dog zone. We did three new hikes though which was awesome! Loved the new scenery. The three hikes: Brohm Lake Tantalus Viewpoint trail, the base of Brandywine Falls & Brandywine Meadows. This article is titled “Dog friendly hikes”, however, if you plan to hike the base of Brandywine falls be prepared that there is one steep area which we had to carry Jack down. Other than that, it was fine!

Yurt Availability

Our 3 Day Whistler Hiking Itinerary

Friday

Drive up from Vancouver
Grabbed groceries
Brohm Lake Hike

Saturday

Base of Brandywine Falls Hike
Alexander Falls
Callaghan Valley
Alta Lake (swimming)
Green Lake (walk)
Whistler Alpine Cafe (dinner)
Whistler Village for Free Concert (Too Many Zooz played and they were awesome)

Sunday

Green Mustache Cafe
Whistler Alpine Cafe

The Base of Brandywine Falls Trail

You can read directions on all the popular hiking blogs, to sum it up, when you get to the viewing platform of the falls, keep going. There will be a second platform where you can view Diasy lake. Go beyond the fence and keep heading east along the edge of the cliff (not too close though, just don’t read north into the forest). You’ll reach the part where you have go down a steep area. There is a rope here, however, we didn’t need it. I went down first then Bobo passed me Jack. Once you get to the bottom you walk along all the boulders at the bottom. There are markers along the trail too. On the way in, we went into the forest which is a less direct route & where I bailed. I wouldn’t recommend - the boulder path is surprisingly easier (we took this route on the way out). You’ll eventually get to a part where the trail does go into the forest. You will pass a bear cave. We didn’t see/hear a bear, I was hella scared though. Bobo read online that there wasn’t a bear in it last year so I assumed we were good, or else I wouldn’t have done the hike.

Callaghan Valley

I loved exploring this area of Whistler. I had never been to it before and had no idea Alexander Falls even existed. There were only a few cars in the parking lot and wayyyyyy less touristy then Brandywine falls. The viewing platform for the falls is right in the parking lot so you don’t need to hike anywhere. We saw on google maps there was some hiking around Callaghan Lake with the opportunity for grizzly bear spotting (can’t say I would get out of my car if we made it). We started to go up the logging road to the lake but it got sketchy for lame prius. JK, love my prius, it’s just lame for off roading, haha.

We talked to a couple in the parking lot of Alexander Falls (they had a 4WD Nisson SUV so assumed they may have done it before). They essentially said there’d no way in hell the prius would make it, lol. There’s steep areas and high rocks which is why you need a high clearance vehicle plus you go through streams/rivers.

Brandywine Meadows

My car, along with a bunch of other sedans, did not even make it to the lower level parking lot, lol. If you make it to the lower level parking lot, you can take a direct & steep climb up the mountain. It should be a 6.5km & 550m elevation gain hike. We however, took the logging roads up the entirety of this hike. It was 17.5km & 750m in elevation gain. It took us probably 5-6 hours to complete?! If you have a 4WD SUV/Truck/Jeep, you can make it to the upper parking lot and the hike is hella easy from there (less than 3km roundtrip for sure). IMPORTANT: BRING BUG SPRAY!! I have 9 mosquito bites one knee cap alone. As soon as you stop moving, the mosquitos swarm you and it’s very unpleasant. When you watch the video above you’ll see Bobo dancing around - that’s to stop the mosquitos lol. Overall this hike was stunning. There was STUNNING views of mount brew & mount fee from the logging road which I don’t think we would have gotten had we take the direct path up. Oh and be aware the the logging road doesn’t offer any protection from the sun, so wear lots of sunscreen/hats/ even long sleeves.

If you have any questions/comments, please leave them below 🙂

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Riverside Resort