BRANDYWINE FALLS HIKE (TO THE BOTTOM!)
Brandywine Falls is a stunning waterfall in Brandywine Falls Provincial Park, a quick 20min drive south of Whistler and 30min north of Squamish in British Columbia, along the Sea to Sky highway.
If you find yourself in this area I highly suggest taking the time to check out Brandywine, whether it be just a quick picnic stop or what I really recommend, the super sweet Brandywine Falls hike to the base.
Most people view the 70m falls from the nice little safe lockout spot situated high and somewhat far from the actual falls. To get there is a simple ten minute walk along a flat terrain path which is easily accessible and very popular. I often read this as the “Brandywine Falls hike”, but it’s a stroll more than a hike. From the parking lot just follow along the 500m signed trail across a bridge and train tracks to the first lockout platform. Viewing the falls from here is great, but I couldn’t help feel like I do sitting in the nosebleeds at an arena concert – “this is cool, but damn, down there looks waaay cooler.”
When I was doing some research for my BC trip on spots to check out, Brandywine immediately made the list from photos I saw of the gorgeous falls, especially the photos with people standing right in front of them, not 70m up on a little lookout. So naturally I was determined to experience the falls this way as well. However I found googling how to do so a little frustrating and decided to go with what I often do, winging it.
Me and my boyfriend got to a very busy parking lot (go early or prepare to line up to get access to the tiny ass lot) and walked along the cute little trail to the lockout. As expected, it was a lovely view, but I wasn’t satisfied. We continued down to the furthest lockout, with a view overlooking the park below, when we saw a small group of adults about our age coming around a fence to the left. “Hey! How do we get down to the falls?” I feel like perhaps this is some sort of local secret or something, as they were hesitant to give us the goods, but the goods we indeed got.
I have to stop here to say that there may or may not have been a sign on the fence warning people to not pass and something about some sort of fine. You have been warned about the sign that may or may not have existed while we were there. I don’t remember the amount of the fine there may or not be, but it was small enough for us to forget that there was a sign. What sign? Exactly. Warning given, live your life how you see fit.
The hike down to Brandywine Falls begins with passing through that fence, just off to the left of the furthest lockout area.
There you’ll see a small worn trail through the forest which you’ll follow along the side of the cliff. A little bit down this path is a cool lockout spot. Here’s a definitely candid and not posed picture of me checking out the view.
Keep following the path until to your right appears an epic boulder wall going down into the valley.
This is the way. (Cue Mandalorian theme) I’ll admit it seemed pretty intimidating at first but it wasn’t actually that bad. Apparently there is a rope somewhere to help climb, but we didn’t see one. We just scouted the area until we found the least treacherous looking descent.
Once at the bottom there are supposedly two different trails, marked by pink and orange markers on the trees.
We did not notice this, and just followed what looked like the natural path. We ended up on the pink route I think, which of course is the more difficult of the two, but it was a really fun way to go. Lots of climbing up and down little hills among the gorgeous trees, across fallen logs, winding through the woods.
Just when we were starting to wonder if we had gone the right way, we heard the sounds of water and before us appeared the stream.
From here it’s simply just following the stream for a bit until you hit the falls. We were in no rush and loved this little spot and decided to hang out for a while and refresh ourselves with the cold water. It was a really hot day and my boyfriend was all ready to swim. Doooo not do it. This water is icy cold, and we were there midday in July. My boyfriend jumped out of the water REAL fast.
As you get close to the falls the trail changes from dirt to rocks.
Again, it looks more difficult than it is. For the most part it’s sturdy footing and it’s not too difficult to navigate the labyrinth of rocks, though it does take a bit of time. I definitely do not recommend doing this in flip flops which would seem obvious but apparently not based on other people we saw stumbling about trying not to lose a flop or break their necks as they were leaving the area.
And there you are! The Brandywine Falls.
100000% more of a magical experience with the roaring of the water filling the air, the sunlight bouncing off the falls rushing from 70m, the mist getting you very wet very quick. Little photography note here, you don’t have to get right up to the falls to still get soaked. So give it a little extra distance, that way you can get more of the falls and surrounding area in the shot.
We proped my phone in-between a few rocks for our cute couple photo as we didn’t want to bother the only other people there, a professional photographer in the water and a mother with a baby (I still do not know how she did this hike with a baby, we didn’t se any sort of carrying device or anything! She even beat us back up! I’m saying magic.)
After cooling off we turned around and made the hike back feeling pretty fucking pleased with ourselves if I’m being honest. I think we accidentally ended up taking the easier pink trail back as it seemed to take half the time. Or we just levelled up in our hiking availabilities. Maybe there was magical properties in the water like Fangorn Forest in Lord of the Rings? I’m going with that. Damn, I love Lord of the Rings.
Overall the hike probably took us about an hour and a half roundtrip, that includes taking photos. I’d rate it intermediate on a difficulty scale, mainly for the boulder wall, which I actually really enjoyed climbing back up. My boyfriend had a cute little smile during his climb, I have a feeling he was picturing himself as Stallon in Cliffhanger.
I’m not going to say you should do this hike, because I guess technically it’s not allowed or something. But I will also say it was an absolutely amazing experience and one of the highlights of my British Columbia trip and I totally would do again and okay fuckit, I’m totally saying you should do this. Hike Brandywine Falls.
Looking for more cool shit to do in British Columbia? More posts to come!
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