Sea to Sky Highway

We decided to go on the Sea to Sky Highway to whistler for the day. The weather was great and we took our South African friends with us for the day. We left at about midday and made our first stop at Shannon Falls. We also took the walkie talkies with us and the other car got a running commentary of the things that we were seeing along the way.

Shannon Falls was fun with the kids climbing all over the rocks at the bottom of the falls. Daniel managed to slip and fall in, getting his shoes, socks and pants wet. We had a picnic lunch in the park and then continued the trip. As we were passing the Strawmus Chief (a huge monolith) we could see the coloured specks of people climbing the rock. We stopped several times for the views of the Tantalus Range and the views of the Cheakamus River valley.

There has been a lot of roadwork on this highway in preparation for next year's winter Olympics, and the road is pretty much completed. It is double lane almost all the way to Whistler.

The next stop was Brandywine Falls. This waterfall has a spectacular 70 metre drop to the valley floor and then feeds into a lake formed by a dam. On the walk to the falls from the carpark we crossed a railway line, and could see the Whistler Mountaineer slowly moving around a bend in the track so that the travellers on the train could get a decent view. The rocks and trees all around are covered in a green moss, which gives the whole are a kind of soft feel about it.

When we arrived in Whistler we parked the cars and walked to the base of the Whistler and Blackcomb chairs. The whole area has been taken over by mountain bikers who are all covered in body armour. Every second chair on the chairlift has been converted to be able to carry bikes. We wandered around the village for a while and then stopped at a pub for some snacks and drinks.

On the way home the views were jast as spectacular and we made several stops for photos.