JOURNEYMAN LODGE
19 km | 880 m
Journeyman Lodge is a chalet set deep in the heart of Whistler’s Callaghan wilderness, 13km from the Alexander Falls Touring Centre. Whether you’re staying over night at the lodge or visiting for the day, it’s an amazing area to explore.
We wanted to make it a day drip and decided to snowshoe in. Once at the Lodge we were greeted by their friendly staff and served a wonderful lunch. Given the distance and time it takes to get up there, especially in the winter, hiking back out would have been too much. The Lodge offers a cat ride out, which was the perfect way to end our day.
The cat does not pick up at the lodge, instead you have to keep hiking another 5km to Callaghan Lake and you need to be there by 3pm the latest…so plan accordingly. It took us about 4.5 hours to get up to the lodge and then an hour from the lodge to the cat pick up point.
There are a couple of ways to get up to the lodge, but again, you have to be mindful of the distance and ensure you reach the cat pick up point by 3pm to catch your ride down.
They recommend you taking the Real Life xc trail all the way up, which is groomed and the easier and faster option. We took Finger Lakes which is much more scenic, but a snowshoe trail which is longer, slower and harder as it’s in deep snow. Depending on your fitness ability, this route adds about a 1km and 1 hour to your journey. We only had about 20 mins to sit and eat our lunch and then had to run back down to the lake to get to the cat by 3pm. So taking the Real Life trail is probably the better option.
You do need to make a reservation for lunch and book the cat ride down. Trail maps are available at guest services.