Hey everyone! Hope the end of summer hasn’t got you too seasonally depressed. I’m currently writing this blog in Portland, Oregon! We got a sweet Airbnb here for a few days, and Becca and I are planning on hiking an overnighter around Mount Hood this coming weekend. Can’t wait to share those stories!

Now, I’ll get back to June 2022. Still in Pemberton, still filling our time with as many hikes and bikes and sightseeing adventures as possible. Enjoy!

Mt. Currie Attempt #1

We start off Week 5 with a story similar to one of the earlier blog posts from Kelowna. Back in the blog Kelowna Vibes and Kettle Valley Rails, Week 3.5, I discussed a car rally up Knox Mountain that blocked our access to cycle up the mountain. The disappointment was palpable as I was looking forward to the challenge of climbing Knox, a true Kelowna classic.

Now in Pemberton, the Kelowna vehicle rally already seemed like a distant memory. But it was about to come full circle.

On June 4, 2022, Becca and I geared up for a summit of Mount Currie. And when we say a summit, this mountain is tall, situated at 2,591m. Snow still resided on the peaks, so when I say summit, I ACTUALLY mean getting to a nice look-out about three quarters of the way up the mountain.

With our packs full, we begin the drive out from Pemberton to the trailhead. The drive travels through a motocross park before getting to a logging road and arriving at the trailhead.

When Becca and I arrived at the Motocross Park, we saw a mass of vehicles lined up waiting to get in. So many old, outfitted trucks resembling vehicles you’d see in Mad Max. And the path through the motocross park was closed, blocking the entry to the trailhead for the weekend.

Vehicle rallies strike YET AGAIN along our journey. Is a common theme appearing here? Yes. Time for an audible.

Garibaldi Lake Hike

We re-evaluated the situation and turned our vehicle not back to Pemberton, but towards Whistler. It would’ve been a pretty big waste to tuck our tails and go home, especially since we spent the morning packing the gear and making all those PB&Js.

Garibaldi Lake is about 20kms with 1000m of climbing over it’s length. Just south of Whistler, the lake is surrounded by a panorama of mountains, making it another must-see Whistler hike.

Along the route, Becca and I enjoyed exploring the multitude of lakes along the trail, as well as frozen creeks and incredible lookouts off cliff faces.

On top of the amazing trail, Garibaldi Lake is at ~1500m of elevation, making it yet another alpine lake to add to our list. The snow was plentiful and the lake was still frozen. While this made for a slippery trail, the micro-spikes Becca and I purchased for this trip were a massive help along the route.

Finally, at the top of the trail at the final lake lookout, mountain peaks surround the lake, and we were rewarded with hearing a symphony of avalanches from around the far side of the lake. The hike was awesome, a highly recommended summer hike in Whistler. Becca and I plan to return at some point when the lake isn’t so frozen over, mostly for the beautiful turquoise colour that alpine lakes are known for.

The return to the vehicle was uneventful, a nice change of pace from the constant bear presence that seems to follow us around.

Trail Running to Nairn Falls

The next day was a rainy day, a movie or book kind of day where you don’t leave the couch. And while I’m certainly like that some days, that just was not the mood I was in.

Instead, I strapped on the runners and ran the Sea to Sky trail.

I don’t keep a consistent running workout throughout my travel weeks, even though I should. I just can’t bring myself to run on pavement. It’s boring. But that being said, I’ve never had a bad time trail running. Okay, maybe the one time I sprained my ankle horribly back in university, but even that run was great before the incident.

The Sea to Sky Trail runs right from Pemberton to Nairn Falls, a 10km out and back from the door of our Airbnb! This was the first of a few times I ventured out to Nairn falls, and I thoroughly enjoyed both the run and the rewarding waterfall in the middle of the run. The path definitely is just one large hill in the middle, but the endorphins I get from trail running were worth it.

Nairn Falls is also a campground, a recommended spot to spend a weekend to just explore the area. Between the falls and the varied trail systems around the area, along with Pemberton very close by, anyone outdoorsy could easily kill a weekend there.

Whistler (With Friends?!)

On June 6th, our friends Alex and Jo came up to Whistler for the day after they spent the previous week in Vancouver.

Prior to meeting up with them, Becca and I got in a quick 30km ride up and down the Sea to Sky Highway before driving up to Whistler. We figured a pretty casual and touristy day was ahead, so why not get in a quick sweat in the morning?

With Alex and Jo, the Peak 2 Peak Gondola was the number one attraction on my list, and thankfully I was able to convince the rest of the group that the price tag was worth it. I was the only one who had done it previously, which was on a ski trip back in 2020, and I knew it was a worthwhile attraction.

Peak 2 Peak Gondola

After purchasing the ~$70 tickets, we hopped into the Whistler gondola and up we went. With my first time on the gondola in peak ski season of 2020, snow covered the mountains and skiers were everywhere. With it now being June in 2022 and the ski season having just ended, the mountain’s bottom half was bike park, while the top half was still snow covered.

Our group was able to watch the bike park riders cruise down towards the bottom of the mountain, hitting jump after jump, before the green and brown gave way to white snow. Funny side note, there was a few days in May that you could both ski and mountain bike at Whistler – skiing on the top half of the mountain, and biking the lower half of the mountain.

The views from the gondola and the top of Whistler are worth the money alone, but the ‘Peak 2 Peak’ portion of this trip is a gondola trip from Whistler’s peak to Blackcomb’s peak. This gondola has 3 supports on each side of the valley between the two mountains. It relies on high strength cable to both support and pull the gondola up to the other side. At the bottom of the valley, the Eiffel tower could easily be placed in between the valley floor and the gondolas, for a quick height reference.

Our group spent quality time on the peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb before heading back down to Whistler village and grabbing dinner. The views of the surrounding area and Whistler Village, along with emerald lake make this a must-do attraction in Whistler.

Brandywine Falls Tour

We decided to give one more sightseeing tour a go and headed off to Brandywine Falls. While this is a popular tourist stop between Vancouver and Whistler, it’s still worthwhile for those new to the area. The falls are 70m in height, and the viewing platform is situated on a side trail off the top of the falls.

These falls are unlike most experiences in Ontario, due to the height and gorge that the waterfall travels into. Off in the distance downstream, a pearl blue lake is visible where the falls and gorge empties out.

Our group spent maybe 30 minutes exploring the area before parting ways, Becca and I off to Pemberton and Jo and Alex off to Vancouver. The following day, they were sending me pictures of them hiking Tunnel Bluffs in Vancouver, a hike we had recommended from the day before. I think our influence may have converted them to hikers, even if it was just for a single day.

Mt. Currie Attempt #2

Alright, it was no longer the weekend and Mad Max had moved along! The trailhead road was open! Time for Mt. Currie, finally!

June 7th was our second rollout to the mountain trailhead, a much more fruitful adventure than Attempt #1. Mt. Currie, as discussed in previous blogs, is Pemberton’s mountain. The whole town rests in its shadow. That’s why the urge was strong to climb it, to say we conquered THE mountain of Pemberton.

The trailhead road was quite destroyed by the Mad Max event, but the subie made it’s way to the parking area for the hike with only a bit of extra mud on it.

Once we began the trail, up and up and up we went. The trail itself is very well marked as it winds its way up the South-West side of the mountain. Our goal was to reach the 1,800m mark of the 2,591m tall mountain, where a viewpoint of Pemberton and Pemberton Meadows sits. A lofty goal, knowing that snow still sits around 1,250m in other places we had just visited (Whistler, for example). But that was the idea.

As well, before we even left on this journey, we knew summiting would be impossible. We use apps such as All-Trails and Strava, and through the combination we could tell that no one had summited this mountain as of this year, with the snow pack still being ridiculously high. We were NOT trying to be the first of 2022, we can wait for a more experienced hiker to come along.

The Curry Climb

Yes, I misspelt it on purpose. Becca is probably sick of the amount of Steph Curry jokes I made on this hike. Everything I could relate to basketball, I would. “Steph Curry with the shot, boy” was the most common phrase on both this hike, and probably our entire month in Pemberton. Just had to get that out there for the world to know.

But boy oh boy, what a climb. Up and up, this path was unrelenting. Through forests, across and up boulder fields, over trees and mountain streams. Over the 5km we made it into this hike, we did over 1000m of elevation! Talk about strenuous activity.

Snow Pack on Mt. Currie

We topped out at an elevation of about 1,300m, aka 500m short of our goal. At this point along the trail, we made our way across a huge boulder field, and lost the trail in the snow that was just starting to build up. Up to that point, it had been nonexistent. Past that point, it seemed like the entire upper half of the mountain was snow covered.

Also, with no one else having been to the top in the current hiking season, there were not even footprints to follow. We had to accept defeat and be content with the views from the boulder field.

Becca and I spent a PB&J lunch at a nice back country camping spot with a fire pit. Afterwards, figuring the top of the boulders would have the best views possible, we spent the next 45 minutes or so playing around in the boulder field. A bonus to this was there was no snow on the boulder field, as it receives a lot of sun throughout the day compared to the trail through the forest.

We traversed up and were rewarded with an incredible view of the surrounding countryside. Sadly, we had not circumnavigated the mountain enough to lay our eyes on the city of Pemberton, but we could see Whistler and Blackcomb mountain, as well as landmarks like the Black Tusk and even the motocross park. The Black Tusk also represents the location of Garibaldi Lake, so it was a cool perspective to put all of our travels together from one vantage point from Mount Currie.

Return to Pemberton

The way down the mountain was almost as grueling as the way up. It definitely focuses on a different muscle group than the way up – which is great, as it gives hiking a balance in a sense. But still mightily difficult, as the impacts of going down are just that much more intense.

We made our way down from the boulder field and the trail until finally arriving back at the subie. Another great hike in the books, but this one still did not feel completely satisfying. It’s one thing to not be able to summit Mt. Currie, but we did not achieve our goal of the 1,800m lookout either. That stings, and this hike will stay in the back of my mind until I head back out there to complete it and officially check off Mount Currie fully.

Yes, I may have a problem, but we won’t talk about it here.

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read! Becca did NOT edit this one as we are rushing out the door to Mount Hood this morning for a multi-day hike, so hopefully I didn’t make too many grammatical errors. She did screen the pictures and hummed over the choices, as always.

I’ll update the gram once I’m back from Mt. Hood! Cheers!