The best walks and hikes around Whittier

Heads up: The trail you're about to tackle is muddy and slippery even in "dry" conditions. If there's been a string of wet days — those being very common around Whittier, which is after all in a temperate rainforest — you can expect the trail to be more mud than dirt. The image shown here was on a dry part of the trail, in relatively dry conditions. The trail is also very brushy, with several stream crossings, and bear encounters are common due to the profusion of berries and fish running in the same streams you'll need to cross. Happily, it is also beautiful!

In theory the trail continues past this point to the actual Emerald Cove, but I strongly recommend stopping here instead. Emerald Cove is muddy and gloomy; Bight Cove, on the other hand, is beautiful. You can enjoy the broad shale beach, driftwood to sit on, and puzzled looks from sea kayakers who are surprised to find out you walked here instead of paddling. There's even a small lagoon.

The locals call this Stair Step Cove, perhaps because of the short, steep descent required to reach it. (There are no actual stairs.) The cove itself is very small, but pretty.

This viewing platform marks the end of the maintain trail. On a clear day, it offers stunning views of Whittier, directly downslope from you, and the deep blue waters of Passage Canal just beyond.

This is one of the better viewpoints for spotting Horsetail Falls on the far side of the valley. However, to the falls are only impressive in the spring when they are running at high volume due to all the melting snow — and you never get very close to them. Instead, I recommend continuing on to the viewpoint overlooking Whittier.

At the moment, the Horsetail Falls trail starts along an old, unpaved road, just past the gated end of a parking area that is also unpaved, but usually passable for passenger vehicles. The city of Whittier is constructing a new connector trail that may make it possible to access this trail from right in town.

Divide Lake is flat, tranquil, and edged with grass, almost as if it sprang out of the tundra on its own. As the trail passes it and begins a downhill grade, you'll catch glimpses of the lake's outflow — Divide Creek — as it races you down to Portage Lake below.

Burns Creek is more of an obstacle than it might appear at first. Its water is fast, cold, and full of silt that makes it hard to judge the depth or spot ankle-twisting boulders littered around the stream bed. If you do choose to cross and continue toward the face of the glacier, please remember that it's very dangerous to walk on the glacier ice or in close proximity to it; falling chunks of ice could crush you.