Caught the 11:30 AM ferry from Departure Bay to Nanaimo. Again expected it to be crowded on a Saturday morning, but it wasn't. Traffic on Rt 99 was heavy, and rest areas were full. Unfortunately, could only see Shannon Falls as we passed by, by it was impressive. <BR> <BR>The blue skies disappeared as we approached Whistle, and we had 4 days of showers and low clouds. I know the weather didn't help, but we really weren't thrilled with the Whistler area. Didn't find the info people to be overly helpful; seemed they were only interested in selling services eg. hiking trips. We're past the stage of needing a guide for a simple hike at $79-$129 per day! <BR> <BR>Finally located some helpful girls at the BC info booths, although we had to go to 3 before we could get the necessary provincial park maps for our own hikes. In the drizzle we hiked Lake Checkamous, Brandywine Falls and Lost Lake area. As on the coast, we were amazed at the thick moss cover. <BR> <BR>Really had hoped to go up in the gondola to hike around the top of Whistler, but with the low ceiling, it wasn't practical. <BR> <BR>Not our type of location, but imagine some think it's wonderful and nice weather would make the scenery.

Oops...obviously the ferry went from Departure Bay to Horseshoe Bay.

Sorry you had a lousy experience in Whistler. There is nothing worse then being in a scenic, outdoor location during awful weather. <BR>A.M.

" a simple hike at $79-$129 per day! " <BR>Wow! <BR>I know a number of the easy hikes around there, you're right all a person needs is a map and a handful of granola and you're off. <BR>Mass tourism indeed!

The low ceiling often will yield to a blue sky at the top of Whistler!!!