Popular Areas
Sea to Sky Country begins just 30 minutes from downtown Vancouver and follows Hwy 99, better known as the Sea to Sky Highway, all the way to Lillooet. On a clear day, the drive from Vancouver to Pemberton, passing through Squamish and Whistler offers spectacular ocean and mountain views and an abundance of outdoor adventure.
Towering rock faces plunge to the sea, rivers cascade in bubbly plumes off sheer cliffs as small coastal communities such as historic Britannia Beach, Porteau Cove are passed. Howe Sound glitters deep blue as brilliant white glaciers and jagged black peaks framed against the sky. Alpine meadows freckled with red, yellow and purple wildflowers, lead to turquoise lakes and old growth rainforest.
Activities in the Sea to Sky Country
Starting in picturesque Horseshoe Bay, site of a BC Ferries terminal, the road winds through mountain communities that started as logging, mining, ranching and farming outposts. Today, they have also become welcoming havens for lovers of every manner of outdoor recreation from winter and
water sports, to
hiking,
rock climbing,
mountain biking,
horseback riding and
wildlife viewing. This country is also rich in archaeological and historical lore. Salish
First Nations have lived here for thousands of years, and prospectors streamed north for the Fraser River gold rush back in the 1850s.
Meaning "Mother of the Wind" in Coast Salish, Squamish is known to be the "Outdoor Recreatioin Capital of Canada". Climb the Stawamus Chief, windsurf Howe Sound, spot bald eagles and hike up Shannon Falls.
Whistler/Blackcomb, one of the world's top ski destinations, hosts the 2010 OlympicWinter Games. Try out the snow sports or go mountain biking, hiking and kayaking in the summer.
Take a horseback ride in Pemberton, against a stunning backdrop of soaring mountains, rushing rivers and fresh, sparkling lakes. Or browse gold rush exhibits, a settler’s home, and two hand-hewn cedar log houses originally belonging to the First Nations, in the Pemberton Museum.
Read about travelling the Sea-to-Sky Highway in British Columbia Magazine.
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