First Trip to Whistler

Why I Go Someplace Every November

Each year, William hosts a costume Halloween party. He usually has 40-50 people in the house. Over the years, we have learned that it’s best for me to go away for the weekend instead of stressing over the mess. Plus, I’m not much of a party person and feel drained of energy after about an hour and tend to hole up in my office.

Last year, I went to Fairbanks, AK, to look for northern lights. This year, I took a friend and went to Whistler, since I had never been there.

Whistler is know for it’s skiing and snowboarding and was the location of the 2010 Olympics. It was also supposed to have good hiking trails for the warmer months, so that’s why I wanted to go.

A Very Rainy, Grey Drive North

We left on a Saturday morning, hoping to stop along the way and take photos. The weather, however, was really nasty with heavy rain. It also prevented us from really seeing and enjoying the scenery along the roughly 200 miles to our destination.

I was hoping to take the gondola from the village up to the top of one of the mountains for some views, but it was closed for maintenance before ski season started. So, we ended up checking out a few shops. I bought a baseball cap to keep the rain off of my glasses (that’s how I end up with so many hats) and a gift for a friend. The weather was too icky to check out more shops, so we went back to the hotel to rest.

A Better Day

The weather on Sunday was much better with blue skies and temps in the 50s.
I had read about a trail online called the Train Wreck Trail, that lead to seven box cars from a train wreck in 1956. Over the years, people have painted art and graffiti on them. A hike and a photo-op…cool!

Before heading to the trail, I saw a poster of bigfoot on a zipline…I teased my friend and said it was her new boyfriend. LOL

Whistler Train Wreck Trail

The trail was pretty steep in placed and slippery from the rain, plus I forgot to bring my trekking poles. I did take a good tumble on the way back out, but luckily, I only got some bruises.

The trail itself was very beautiful with old growth forest, mosses and ferns. Reach the box cars, we spent about an hour just taking photographs of them.

After we left, I did further research on the trail and learned we had taken the old trail that crossed the railroad tracks. The new trail was supposed to be shorter and crossed a suspension bridge near the wreck. Oh well…next time.

Heading Home

On the way home, we had a little drizzle, but there were a few places we stopped to take photos. I really love how my mountain top with the surrounding clouds turned out!