Hike To Rainbow Lake, Whistler

Rainbow Lake has a hard job to impress, because it has competition like Green Lake, Wedgemount Lake, Garibaldi Lake or Iceberg Lake. Well, Whistler is one of the best places to go if you’re obsessed with high mountain trails and alpine lakes. Apparently, Rainbow Lake is among the less busy hikes – which means you’ll have a chance to find parking and you don’t need a permit.

What will you get? A rushing, pretty waterfall, a lovely, moderately difficult forest trail, a surprise waterfall (British Columbia is full of waterfalls!) and a tranquil, stunning alpine lake, surrounded by dramatic mountain peaks. Though these forests are evergreen, the Rainbow Lake Trail has a touch of fall colors in October.

Start from the Rainbow Falls Trailhead

The trailhead is called Rainbow Falls, and this waterfall is a short hike, suitable even with young kids, and also a pleasant first stop on your way to Rainbow Lake. There are outhouses and an information board at the parking lot, then you follow the trail uphill along Twenty One Mile Creek from the trailhead. (Don’t let the forest service road distract you.)

Rainbow Falls is spectacular, just like most waterfalls in British Columbia. It’s not too tall, but powerful, especially as the snow is melting in early summer. Rainbow Falls is reachable even in the winter, we made it there through a magical snowy forest. But the rest of the trail is for summer only…

Ascend through the forest

The ascent through the forest is a gradual, steady climb, with lots of large roots and occasionally rocks. It’s a terrain where you need proper hiking shoes – and also stamina. But there’s nothing technical about the route, just take one step at a time a few thousand times, and that’s it.

You’ll cross Twenty One Mile Creek and you can catch a glimpse of another pretty waterfall after a while. Otherwise, this section in the forest is steady, lovely, but not too exciting. However, you’ll start to get peak views as you approach Rainbow Lake. From then on the landscape looks like a perfect postcard of the high mountains.

Reaching Rainbow Lake and the peak views

We did this hike in October. Even though the pine forest is evergreen, we enjoyed fall colors, because bushes and moss turn orange and yellow in the upper section of the hike. If you come in August, you can marvel at wildflowers around the lake.

Regardless of time, the majestic mountain peaks surrounding Rainbow Lake are eternal and very impressive. The lake is deep blue, a typical wonderful alpine lake!

There’s a bench on a small hilltop which is the perfect picnic spot with the best views of Rainbow Lake, and there’s a trail that runs along the lakeshore, too. You can access the water, but swimming is not allowed.

Rainbow Lake hiking info:

• Trailhead: Rainbow Falls Trailhead along Alta Lake Road, Whistler
• Length: 8.4 km one-way
• Difficulty: medium
• Hiking season: July – October
• See the trail map here.

What’s the best time to hike to Rainbow Lake?

The hiking trail is accessible in the summer season only, which means the time between July and October. The exact time depends on the current year. If snow melts earlier, it might be accessible in June, and the first heavy snows in mid-October or late October end the hiking season.

The short section until Rainbow Falls is accessible all year, but the snow can be deep, and snowshoes are recommended.

Flies and mosquitoes are the worst in the 3-4 weeks following snowmelt, and all the mosquitoes usually die by late August.

You can guess our favorite time to hike to Rainbow Lake: September and early October. But it’s impossible to hike all the high mountain trails during those few weekends in September and October, so whenever trail conditions are right and you have a clear day, just go.

Extend the hike: Hanging Lake

If you’re willing to hike for another 2.5 km, the trail takes you further to Hanging Lake through Rainbow Pass. Carrying a toddler on a late October day, we neither had the energy nor the daylight to extend the hike, but one day I’d love to.

Unline in Rainbow Lake, swimming is allowed in Hanging Lake, so that could be a reason to continue there on a long, hot summer day.

Other spectacular lake hikes in Whistler

• Garibaldi Lake
• Wedgemount Lake
• Iceberg Lake
• Elfin Lakes

No hiking is required to get to Green Lake, Alta Lake, Alpha Lake, Nita Lake or Lost Lake, but you can do shorter walking trails on the lakeshore. The Lost Lake loop is our favorite.