This morning, I woke up at 8AM, after sleeping 7-8 hours. I think that waking up in a room with 3 other guys who were also sleeping, definitely influenced me to sleep longer than I would have otherwise. At about 8:45AM, I was waiting at the bus stop and chatting with two girls in their mid-20s, who were traveling together. One was from Arizona and the other was a UCLA-alumni living in Orange County. After a few minutes of chatting, the Moroccan guy from yesterday also arrived at the bus stop and we continued chatting until the bus arrived.
At 9:30AM, I dropped off my backpack at Jay’s Station in whistler village. With the purchase of a $60 peak-to-peak ticket, Jay’s Station offers to watch backpacks for free. I bought the lift ticket, and immediately headed to the chairlift to head up to Whistler Peak. the trip up to Whistler Peak required boarding two chair lifts. As soon as I arrived at Whistler Peak, I began hiking the High Note Trail. The High Note Trail is a beautiful 5.8 mile trail which passses by many streams, Alpine Lakes, and beautiful scenery. The trail seemed to be very popular with both trailrunners and day hikers.
After completing the High Note Trail at Roundhouse Lodge, I boarded the Peak-to-Peak gondola which connects Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain. The Peak-to-Peak ride was incredibly scenic, especially because of the clear, unobstructed view throughout the trip. at the midpoint of the Peak-to-Peak ride, the gondola is being pulled along the rope hundreds (maybe even thousands) of feet above the land below. The gondola was somehow designed so that supporting columns/pillars aren’t necessary for a large portion of the route between the two mountains. The gondola simply moves along the sagging, unsupported rope for a significant portion of the route.
Once I arrived at Blackcomb Mountain, I hiked the Nature Trail, OverLord trail, Black Trail, and LakeSide Trail. The scenery was amazing and the combination of solitude and awe was special. At 5:45pm, I completed the hike and arrived at the Blackcomb chair lifts. The two Australian men at the chair lifts were visibly upset about me being late. I was surprised to find out that the chairlifts on Blackcomb mountain were scheduled to close at 5:30pm. I apologized and descended the two chairlifts to the base of Blackcomb Mountain. As I descended each of the chairlifts, I overheard that I was the last person of the day to descend on the chair lifts.
After picking up my pack from Jay’s station I stopped by a pizza shop and Starbucks, before boarding the 8pm bus back to Vancouver.
