High Note Trail Hike - Whistler B.C.

Panorama from Flute Summit
We were in Whistler, B.C. for zip lining (with Ziprek) on Saturday and planned a nice hike for Sunday: the High Note Trail Hike. You take the Whistler Village Gondola to the Peak Express Chair to get to Whistler Summit. You have arrived at the right spot when you see an big stone man, an Inuksuk marker, "Ilanaaq", the mascot logo of the 2010 Winter Olympics. From there follow the signs or the map that is readily available everywhere you look (a piece of it is shown here).

The High Note Trail is marked as #5 and comes in at about 9.4 km. This loop trail starts at the Peak Express chairlift and ends at the Roundhouse Lodge, lower than you started. From the Roundhouse Lodge, you can go back down or take the Peak 2 Peak Gondola across to Blackcomb.

In terms of plants and animals, we saw many alpine flowers and two big hoary marmots (Marmota caligata) munching away on them, lupine to be exact. Whistler Mountain gets its name from the piercing whistle the marmots make when they detect danger. The etymology of the generic name derives from Middle French word for mountain. “The etymology of the specific epithet is derived from caligatus (L), booted, a reference to the black or blackish brown feet (Brown 1956).” according to the Alaska Geographic site.

An Inuksuk marker, "Ilanaaq", the mascot logo of the 2010 Winter Olympics, located on Whistler Mountain (left) and View of Cheakamus Lake from the High Note Trail (right)

Partridgefoot - Luetkea pectinata (left) and Stream and Pink Monkey Flowers - Mimulus lewsii (right)

Western Pasque Flower - Anemone occidentalis (left) and Alpine Fireweed - Epilobium latifolium (right)

Hoary Marmot - Marmota caligata
 

Arrowleaf Groundsel - Senecio triangularis (left) and Orange Agoseris - Agoseris aurantiaca (right)

Symphony Lake (left) and Leatherleaf Saxifrage - Leptarrhena pyrolifolia (right)

Sickletop Lousewort - Peducularis racemosa (left) and Whistler High Note Trail Map (right)