WHISTLER (from the air)

Today we are taking to the skies in a 6 seater float plane. We drove to Green Lake to check in at the 'airport', a stylist wooden shed on the pontoon. Our little plane was moored up and a larger regular service float plane was waiting to depart to either Victoria or Vancouver, the passengers boarded and the flight attendant untied the rope and climbed the ladder, hopped in through the cabin door and 'they were on their way!'.

Washrooms were located in the very swish Whistler Golf Club house nearby, so we took advantage of these before meeting Captain Tim who was flying us up to the Alpine Lake. Whilst we waited to board the plane we watched a 'lovely' assistant fill the plane with fuel and a group of toddlers from a daycare facility came to watch the planes take off and they were very co-operative about covering their ears when planes were moving.

Eventually we boarded the plane, Tony sitting in the co-pilot's seat, Captain informed us they hadn't landed on the lake yet this year so he would do a recce before committing to land as the water level might be too high. We set off, clear blue skies, up, up and away with great views of Whistler Village, Whistler and Backcomb mountains. We flew between snow covered peaks, saw blue glacial rivers bubbling through the valley, spotted Squamish in the distance. At times it felt like we were going to fly into the mountains but the captain seemed to know what he was doing! The scenery was breathtaking. Finally we spotted a beautiful Alpine lake between the jutting peaks, we circled over waterfalls whilst the captain was assessing if it was safe to land. Yes we could so down, so we descended very gracefully onto the lake, the captain kicked off his shoes, jumped out, pulled the plane into the beach and we 'debarked' (American for got off!), for photos and a picnic on the beach in a most idyllic location. The beach was quite small as the lake was very full from the winter snow melt so we had to partly walk in the lake to get to the picnic spot, the picnic blankets were laid out on the beach next to the snow cover grass (yes snow and sand in one place even when the temperature is 80 degrees plus). We really didn't want to leave this gorgeous location but, of course, we had to. On th return journey Gill was in the co-pilot's seat and was very careful not to touch anything or get in the way of the captain's view as, in these little machines there didn't seem to be many fancy gadgets so I assumed things were done by sight not all on instruments. Again fabulous views as we glided between snow covered peaks with views of Garibaldi National Park and eventually descended into Green Lake for another great landing (much smoother than Air Canada and Air Alaska managed!). We all agreed it was a great experience.

We returned to the hotel and Tony and I decided to take a dip in the hotel pool before hiring bikes (no not to go mountain biking) but to cycle around the Valley Trail. They weren't the best bikes we have hired this trip but it was a good paved route around the golf course, along the river joining the lakes and by Altura Lake and a loop back into Whistler. There were the usual signs about beware of the bears but we only saw 2 very cheeky beavers walking on the golf course - I'm not sure what their handy cap was!!!!Read more