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Whistler’s Green Lake

by Amanda Pataky
Valley Trail at Whistler's Green Lake

Green Lake is a large turquoise-coloured lake found just north of Whistler Village. It’s located very close to the Scandinave Spa.

 

Green Lake Park in Whistler

Situated just a few minutes north of Whistler Village, Green Lake is the largest lake in the Whistler area. Due to its size, the lake doesn’t warm up as much as Whistler’s other lakes do during the summer months, so it’s not as swimmable. However, the lake’s large size makes it a good landing spot for floatplanes. In fact, Harbour Air runs connecting flights through Green Lake to downtown Vancouver.

Green Lake itself is about one kilometre long and as you can guess from the name, the water itself has a greenish-blue tinge from the glacier that feeds the lake. The glacier water runs into the lake via Fitzsimmons Creek.

 

Green Lake at Whistler

 

Activities at Green Lake

There are a few small parks around Green Lake where people can enjoy the natural beauty of the area. Dream River Park is a small park found just off Highway 99. The park has a parking lot, boat pullout and picnic tables. Just east of Dream River Park is Fitzsimmons Fan Park. This park is mostly undeveloped but there is a large sandy spit running out into the lake which is a great spot for fishing.

Parkhurst is one of the newest parks on Green Lake. The place used to be a small logging town before Whistler was Whistler. In the area there is one house still standing as well as a couple of disintegrating cars from the 1950s.

 

Valley Trail Boardwalk at Green Lake

 

Lake Activities

There are multiple activities one can participate in at the lake. These include water sports that require the use of boats, such as water-skiing and wakeboarding. There is one boat launch at the lake on the south end. Other on-lake activities include fishing and non-motorized sports such as kayaking and canoeing.

Off-lake activities include hiking, biking and wildlife watching. There are many species that call this park home, including deer, bears and various types of birds.

Green Lake is a highly underrated and underused hiking place in Whistler. There’s a network of both established and unestablished trails running around the lake. A boardwalk runs partway around the lake and the Valley Trail also connects briefly to the south end. Trails around Green Lake are multi-use for both bikers and hikers.

Green Lake is also the only lake in the Whistler area to allow motorized boats and other water vehicles. In the summer months Green Lake is popular for wakeboarding and waterskiing.

 

Green Lake Video

For an idea of what the lake looks like, check out the video below. It was filmed from the Valley Trail.

 

 

Other Information

For more information about Green Lake see the Tourism Whistler website.

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