[Blowdown]

Whistler/Blackcomb resort in British Columbia has a surprisingly nice set of hiking trails. They’re rated as easy, moderate, or difficult, and they pass lovely terrain, wildflowers, and tarns. And best of all, you can take the gondola up to timberline, so you don’t have to do all the work to climb the mountain! Trail Map PDF I’m sure the views would have been spectacular, if not for the smoke from the forest fires north of the resort. Visibility was less than a mile, but beautiful anyway. Hiking the Blackcomb loop was like smoking three packs of Camel Straights! Not really quite that bad, we got used to it, but the air wasn’t too pleasant. The mountain biking tracks looked really fun! Apparently now there are more visitors to Whistler/Blackcomb in the summer than in the winter. The border is a pain returning to the US, we left early but the waits were still way too long. Total drive time from Seattle is about four hours not including the border crossing.

I wish

View from the Gondola

Auspicious start to Blackcomb trail system

Every trailhead should have one of these

Green Loop

Wildflowers everywhere

Beautiful trail, just no views

Good advice

Heather galore

Rugged at times

Tarn

Nice to know we're "Advanced Experts"

Marmagranites

Need to go back for the views