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Northair Mine

Black Tusk

Logger's Lake

Wedgemount Lake

Newt Lake

Black Tusk

Callaghan Lake

Cirque Lake

Whistler Train Wreck

Wedgemount Lake

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Brandywine Meadows

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Spectacular Whistler!

Whistler hiking is wonderful! Check out our Best Whistler Hiking by Month guides! WeRentGear.com rents tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, camp stoves, packs, complete kits and more!

Best Trails This Week!

Best This Week: Whistler Train Wreck and Parkhurst Ghost Town are easy, fun and dog friendly. Check out our June and July Whistler and Garibaldi Park guides here!

Keyhole Hot Springs (aka Pebble Creek Hot Springs) is located 100 kilometres from Whistler(Village Gate Blvd). Though most of the 100 kilometres is on logging roads, it is driveable by most cars without any trouble. The massive Innergex hydroelectric project has turned this once quiet wilderness into a war-zone. On the plus side, the old logging roads near Keyhole Hot Springs are now well maintained and smooth.

  • Beautiful drive to get there with lots of sights
  • Pools at the edge of Upper Lillooet River
  • Evidence of Mt Meager's eruption 2400 years ago
  • Wild & free place in a gorgeous setting
  • Campsite is large, spread out & scenic
  • Drive through the debris field from 2010
  • Trail is packed with geological curiosities
  • The impressive Keyhole Falls is nearby
  • Upper Lillooet River is beautiful!
  • Often crowded or closed by park wardens

The hot springs at Keyhole flow out of the ground adjacent to the swirling, crashing and wonderfully glacier coloured water of the Lillooet River.  The colour varies with the season, but for the most part it is a wonderful, deep, milky turquoise.  When the sunlight penetrates the deep valley, the milky turquoise changes to an unnaturally bizarre, emerald green colour as it swirls all around you. Sitting in the springs you look across to the vertical rock face and the massive, truck sized chunks of it that lay in the river next to you. The Lillooet is fed from various glaciers and snowy mountains visible all the way to Pemberton. At the Lillooet River crossing in Pemberton Meadows take a look in the distance and you will make out the spectacularly jagged and violent looking peak of Mount Meager. It is also a good place to reflect on the fact that Mount Meager produced the larges volcanic eruption in Canada, in the last ten thousand years. It occurred about 2400 years ago and Keyhole and Meager Hot Springs are symptoms of current volcanic activity and another major eruption is possible. In the last couple years BC Ministry of Forests and Recreation Sites and Trails BC have been aggressively blocking public access to both Meager Hot Springs and Keyhole Hot Springs. Currently, in 2023 they have blocked both access roads with gates to the trailheads and are threatening to issue violation tickets. The warning reads: SITE CLOSED: Trail and hot springs are closed from Apr 1 to Nov 15 each year (spring to fall) The Province will be enforcing this closure and will issue violation tickets to anyone caught ignoring the restrictions. They don't appear to have any legitimate reasons for the closures and are clearly making up vague things to justify blocking public access. For example: "The Upper Lillooet provides important habitat for many wildlife species, including the threatened South Chilcotin grizzly bear population, and is a very important wildlife migration corridor for deer, moose, and mountain goats. Mineral licks at the hot springs provide wildlife with year-round nutrients. The hot springs are also home to the vivid dancer damselfly, a species of special concern that is threatened by intensive recreational use. Ad hoc water diversion mechanisms and user created tubs disturb natural features and alter stream flow, negatively impacting the ecosystem. Human activity at the hot springs can displace wildlife from these valuable habitat features."

Remote and Beautiful Keyhole Hot Springs

For such a remote place, Keyhole Hot Springs have a pretty elaborate hot springs layout as well as a very large(unmaintained) camping area in the deep forest, high above the hot springs about a 10 minute walk away. Signs of semi-permanent tarp dwellings can be seen in stages of ruin, but overall the campsite area is amazing.  With the exception of being dark due to the thick forest and fresh water a steep, 5 minute walk away, it is perched on a wonderful cliff with great views of the river below and cliff and mountains and waterfalls across.  If the campsite had a dozen tents within it, you could space them out enough to not see or hear each other fairly easily.

Keyhole Hot Springs

Keyhole Hot Springs at Night

Keyhole Hot Springs at Night

Keyhole Hot Springs Map v33

Parking & Trailhead Directions to Keyhole Hot Springs

Driving Directions to Keyhole Hot SpringsKeyhole Hot Springs is way to far to realistically bike to and no public transit gets even close. Driving is the only real option, however, Innergex, understandably doesn't seem too welcoming for tourists into the area. They have, however, managed to build this nice trail quite quickly.  When you look at the construction sites, it is astounding to note that the hot springs lay absurdly close to enormous sites, before, above and beyond the springs. If you are curious, drive just past the hot springs parking area and take a look(from afar) at the powerhouse excavation site.. breathtaking. From Whistler Drive north on Highway 99 until you reach Pemberton.  When you reach Pemberton turn left at the traffic lights(gas station) and after 1k you will come to a roundabout, left here and drive 200 metres to the T junction, you will see a sign for "The Meadows" turn right here and and another "The Meadows" sign in a couple hundred metres pointing left.

Driving to Keyhole Hot Springs Map v2

More info for Keyhole Hot Springs..

More Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Maps!

Ring Lake Maps

Ring Lake is a fantastically serene and wonderfully remote lake similar to Cirque Lake, but considerably farther to hike to reach it. The 10 kilometre(6.2 mile) hike takes you ...
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Whistler Mountain Maps

The alpine hiking trails on Whistler Mountain are the ultimate in luxurious hiking. Little hiking effort gets you amazing views of turquoise lakes, snowy mountain, valleys of ...
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Sloquet Hot Springs Maps

Sloquet Hot Springs is a wonderfully wild set of shallow, man-made pools fed by a small, all natural, and very hot, waterfall. The pools stretch from the waterfall to the ...
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Panorama Ridge Maps

Panorama Ridge is easily one of the most amazing hikes in Garibaldi Provincial Park.  The 15 kilometre hike from the trailhead at Rubble Creek to Panorama Ridge takes you ...
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More Whistler Hiking Trail Maps

West Coast Trail Best Sights

Whistler & Garibaldi Park Glossary A to Z

Glacier Window: the cave-like opening at the mouth of a glacier where meltwater runs out.  Glacier windows are often extraordinarily beautiful.  A blue glow ...
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Inosculation is the technical name for two or more trees that have fused together into a single bizarre looking tree. They are colloquially known as ...
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Wedge Creek cuts through the valley that separates Wedge Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain and empties into Green River near the north end of Green Lake.  ...
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The pale green shub-like growths hanging from trees in the forests around Whistler is called usnea.  These bushy, coral-like fruticose lichens anchor to bark ...
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Nunatuk: a rock projection protruding through permanent ice or snow.  Their distinct appearance in an otherwise barren landscape often makes them ...
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Porteau Cove is a beautiful little stop on the drive to or from Whistler. You will notice the lack of convenient washroom stops on the way to or from ...
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Western hemlock (tsuga heterophylla) is a large evergreen coniferous tree that is native to the west coast of North America. Unlike many other trees in ...
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Aiguille: a tall, narrow, characteristically distinct spire of rock. From the French word for "needle". Used extensively as part of the names for many ...
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More Hike in Whistler Glossary

Free Camping Gear Delivery to Garibaldi Park

The Best Whistler & Garibaldi Park Hiking Trails!

Helm Creek is a cute, meandering creek that winds its way from beyond Black Tusk, down the valley to the wonderful campground that takes its name. From the Helm Creek campground, Helm Creek descends further ...
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Logger's Lake is an amazing little lake hidden up in the deep forest above the more well known Cheakamus River. The lake, almost unbelievably exists in a long extinct volcano. However, as soon as you see ...
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Brew Lake is beautiful mountain lake just a short drive south of Whistler and is relatively unknown and seldom hiked. Laying at the base of Mount Brew, Brew Lake lays in a massive alpine valley of enormous ...
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Joffre Lakes Provincial Park is a gorgeous park with extraordinarily coloured lakes, waterfalls, stunning mountain peaks and ominous glaciers pouring into the valley.  Joffre Lakes is one of those incredible ...
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More Whistler Hiking Trails & Maps

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