Active Whistler Summer Vacation Companion

The best things to do in Whistler for the summer include mountain biking along the dozens of trails, hiking, golfing, and fishing. All of these activities are at the village or within a 20 minute drive. Basically everywhere you go and whatever you do, you'll be surrounded by snow-capped mountains and fresh mountain air.

Quick Tips:

If you are looking to enjoy Whistler, but don't feel like paying the relatively high prices for lodging, you may want to consider staying north of Whistler in Pemberton or south of Whistler in Squamish, where there are many cheap bed and breakfasts. Pemberton is a 30 minute drive along route 99. Pemberton is set in a valley, far below the mountain elevations of Whistler, so you won't have the same mountain resort feel at all, but you'll save some money.

I would recommend playing golf at the Big Sky Golf Course in Pemberton. It costs about C, which is cheaper than playing in Whistler, and it is a gorgeous, spectacular course set in the valley. It will get quite hot in Pemberton, over 90 degrees on the hottest summer days, much hotter than Whistler.

Best Way To Get Around:

There is a free shuttle bus in Whistler, but I find that driving up from Vancouver is the best way to go. There are plenty of car rental companies companies at the Vancouver airport. This way, you can pack all your gear and have some mobility to visit some areas outside Whistler village. The drive from Vancouver the Whistler is approximately two hours along the lovely Highway 99 (the Sea to Sky Highway). Car rentals in Vancouver are fairly reasonable, about - Canadian per day.

The Whistler Residence Inn is a quite reasonable place to stay and a good deal for families. It is cheaper than staying directly in the village, as this hotel is located about 1-2 miles away from the village on top of a steep hill that is near the famous Chateau Whistler resort.

This Residence Inn follows the approach of other Residence Inns that have spacious one or two bedroom suites with fully equipped kitchens and dining area. This Residence Inn looks like a ski lodge and most rooms have nice balconies.

There is a heated pool and two hot tubs. During my stay here, there were many families enjoying the free breakfast of fruit, yogurt, juice, and cereal! There are no restaurants on site, so if you want to stay where the action is in town, you wouldn't want to stay here. Getting into the main village is also convenient because there is a free town shuttle bus that stops right in from of the hotel. I would recommend a stay here if you are with your family and have a modest budget of about $80-100 per night for the summer.

The Whistler area has many scenic mountain lakes and I was excited to spend a day fishing on Cheakamus Lake. It is beautiful, yet one of more accessible alpine lakes nestled in the mountains and fed by the cold waters of nearby glaciers. These glacial lakes are truly magnificent because they are clear and cold, and the glacial sediments give them an almost glowing emerald green quality to them. It's like fishing in a postcard or in a setting you might find in the mountain wilderness scenes of Lord of the Rings!

I booked this trip with Trout Country Fishing Guides because fishing with a guide is a good idea if you are serious about catching fish in remote locations in a new place. Tassila from Trout Country is one of the most helpful and pleasant guide operators I have every talked with. She was even kind enough to drop off a fly rod at my hotel on the day before my trip, so I could practice my rusty casting skills. After all, there aren't too many fly fishing opportunities in Manhattan!

The day started at 11am when my guide, Logan Wilkins, picked me up in his pickup truck at the hotel. Cheakamus Lake is only 10 miles south of Whistler on #99, and the gravel road to the lake starts there. You will see a sign called "Function Junction" on the opposite side of Highway 99 where the gravel road starts. The gravel road is only slightly rough and fine for ordinary cars.

This fishing trip started with our carrying personal float tubes during the 45 minute hike to the lake. These are like tiny boats built with large inner tubes. It was a pretty rigorous hike, but not back-breaking. We wore waders to keep warm in the cold water and flippers on our feet to propel our way slowly along the lake shoreline.

We used rods with sinking lines tied to leech imitations. We trolled the shoreline of the lake and waited for hits. It was a gorgeous sunny day, but not too hot. I caught about 8 or 9 nice rainbows in four hours. Nothing huge, but lovely trout with many fine leaps. I let them all go, as Trout Country is a catch-and-release guide service. Logan was a great guide and fishing buddy, and he was helpful with my casting technique and best fishing spots. Floating around in a tube is a wonderfully relaxing way to fish, you feel so serene and weightless. You could take a nap while waiting for a fish to strike. Shoreline fishing would be tough because of the lack of casting area. We saw one or two anglers fishing from the shore, but no one else in float tubes fishing that day.

The Big Sky Golf and Country Club is only 25 minutes north of Whistler, and it was one of the best golf courses I have ever played because of its incredible views of snow-capped Mount Currie. It was quite a thrill to be playing there. Pemberton is a valley town and the temperatures are much warmer than in Whistler, which is in the mountains. This course was designed by Robert Cupp who also designed the famous Pumpkin Ridge.

When I started my round at 4:30pm on a Wednesday, I did not have any playing partners because the bookings were wide open. That was nice because I got to work on my game a bit and hit some extra shots. The service was very friendly and helpful, as you'd expect from Canadians!

It was quite unexpectedly hot at about 90 F, but the evening breezes will cool you off. In fact, you can tee off at 5pm and finish your round when the sun sets at 9:15pm. That's one of the great things about golfing in British Columbia. Also, the stunning mountain views were also very memorable and I could also see a small waterfall flowing down the side of the mountain.

The course was very tough because any ball hit into the rough is basically gone for good. The rough is made up of very long fescue grass that devours balls. Also, there is a fair amount of water on the course to add even more opportunity to lose balls. Hole #4 (par 5) is particularly devious, with three stream crossings and a pond that cost me two balls!

Green fees get progressively cheaper later in the day and they vary by season. I paid C$59 (US$45), which was a wonderful value. I will definitely look forward to playing here on my return to Whistler.