Tag: Rainbow Park

Creating Whistler’s Parks: Rainbow Park, appropriate to expropriateCreating Whistler’s Parks: Rainbow Park, appropriate to expropriate

May 23, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

The Whistler Question wrote in 1980, “The Municipality has reviewed the opportunities in the Alta Lake area and without expropriation or purchase of private land property, the recreational opportunity in the Alta Lake area for swimming, especially a beach area for young children, is extremely limited.”

It was clear all along that more public access was required for Alta Lake and the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) had been looking into buying lots on the foreshore of the lake to turn into parks. When Drew Meredith became Mayor in 1986 the council started to think bigger than buying single-family lots, and Rainbow Lodge caught their attention.

Rainbow Lodge, where Rainbow Park is now located, had a long history of tourism. Myrtle and Alex Philip opened the popular vacation destination for summer visitors in 1914. Then in 1948, they sold Rainbow Lodge to the Greenwood family where it continued as a summer resort. In its heyday Rainbow Lodge contained over 40 buildings, including a main lodge, post office, stables and many cabins.

Rainbow Lodge and surrounding facilities, ca 1930. Philip Collection.

Rainbow Lodge was sold to Joan Saxton, a speculator from Vancouver, in 1970. Resort operations ceased in the early 1970s, however, people could still rent rooms and cabins on a more long-term basis. Disaster struck in 1977 when the main lodge burnt down during renovations, and by 1986 many of the remaining buildings had fallen into disrepair.

Whilst Whistler had gone through a period of booming development throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Rainbow Lodge remained rather unchanged. Joan Saxton said during the expropriation in 1986, “Pat Carleton said he wanted to get the town centre going, and then after that it would be my turn. They’ve down zoned me and put me off the sewer system.” In Saxton’s eyes this unfairly reduced the value of the land, and the RMOW and Saxton could not come to an agreement on purchase price.

The RMOW had the land appraised twice, and then went to the Provincial Government where they received permission to expropriate the land for public interest. In 1987, the 43.2 hectare (108 acre) parcel of land on Alta Lake was expropriated for $367,000.

The lakeside cabins at Rainbow Lodge. Philip Collection.

If the owners had been living on the property the expropriation process may have been more difficult, but the Saxtons lived in the city and rented out some of the remaining cabins. Many of these buildings were in rough shape and had to be demolished when the area became a park. Three of the cabins were preserved for historical value, however, and you can still see these in Rainbow Park today.

Three remaining guest cabins at Rainbow Park. Photo courtesy of Jeff Slack.

The park was quickly developed, opening for public use during the summer of 1987. Early improvements to the property included creating a pedestrian crossing over the railway, building up the marshy pathway which was often flooded, and clearing vegetation from the sandy beach. Open wells that had been used for the lodge were filled in, the parking was cleared, and picnic tables added. The beachfront and facilities continued to expand and the park quickly reached the goal of becoming the top beach park in Whistler.

While the council at the time believed the deal was signed and done, the story of Rainbow Park does not end there. In what would become one of the longest lawsuits the RMOW has faced to-date, the Saxton family continued to fight for further compensation. They argued that the land appraisals were not taking into account the size and development potential of the property.

In 2012, the decades-old dispute was finally settled with the judge ordering the RMOW to pay an additional $2.4 million to the Saxton family, valuing the land at $12,000 an acre, comparable to the value of the Nicholas North lands in the early 1990s. With hindsight, the land was revaluated to $1.3 million dollars, and the RMOW was required to pay the difference, plus an additional $1.5 million for unpaid interest.

While Drew Meredith disagreed with judgement, he said Rainbow Park was worth it even at $2.4 million. With the number of people enjoying the sunshine recently, I tend to agree.

Rainbow Park in September 1990. Griffith Collection.
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Creating Whistler’s ParksCreating Whistler’s Parks

May 2, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Much of Whistler’s magic comes from the swathe of recreational green space that we enjoy within the municipal boundaries. For this we can thank the visionary thinking that started a Recreation Plan for Whistler, before Whistler Village even existed.

The value of recreational green space was not underestimated in Whistler even before the municipality was created. A community study by W.J. Blakely in 1973 stated, “The acquisition, either through direct purchase or as a condition of approval of development, of public open space and lake front land for community recreation should be undertaken as soon as possible on behalf of any new municipality incorporated.”

The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) was incorporated in September 1975, and despite the many tasks facing them, a provisional Recreation Plan was written by 1976. ‘Recreation and Open Space Considerations for Community Planning’ was prepared for the RMOW by Norm Paterson representing the Whistler Developers Association, Paul Burrows representing Alta Lake Rate Payers Association, Paul Mathews from the Advisory Planning Commission and councillor Al Raine.

This report recognised that, “Recreation is the primary resource of the Whistler Community and this important asset must be protected and optimized for the benefit of the Whistler Community.” The report recognised that while the ski season was the prime driver of the economy in Whistler, the summer economy should not be overlooked.

Analysing recreational potential in Whistler, the report recommended investment into most recreational opportunities except for hunting, target shooting and ski jumping. Hunting and target shooting were recognised as too noisy and in conflict with Whistler’s other recreational opportunities, while ski jumping was not an economically viable investment for the RMOW, although private investment would be supported.

In the 1970s, Wayside Park on Alta Lake was one of the few designated parks in Whistler as it had previously been a provincial park. Apart from this, public access to Whistler’s lakes was limited. The report noted as priority, “The areas of active water related recreation should be developed as quickly as possible. The present priority would appear to be public beach access to Alta Lake and boat launching areas. The development of Lost Lake is also important.” In his copy of the planning document, Trevor Roote, who became the chair of the Advisory Parks and Recreation Commission (APRC), circled this paragraph and wrote ‘agreed’.

Wayside Park in July 1979. The park was the only public access to Alta Lake at this time. Whistler Question Collection.

Trev Roote, and the Advisory Parks and Recreation Commission (APRC) expanded on this preliminary planning document to create the original Recreation Master Plan. The plan was constructed largely by volunteers before there was a parks or recreation department in the municipality. It proposed locations for parks with a linear spine of trails to connect them. Doug Wylie, municipal engineer in the days when the parks person came under engineering, remembered volunteer Trev Roote standing by his desk for hours going over their proposal.

The plan was detailed and thorough. It is quite incredible comparing the highlighted and hand-drawn maps from over 40 years ago to the system of parks and trails we enjoy today. There are a few linkages still to be connected in valley trail system, notably between Alpha Lake Park and Function Junction, and from Mons to Whistler Cay. Other proposals that were not realised include the trail following the railway tracks on the west side of Alta Lake, south of Rainbow Park. On this section today pedestrians and cyclists are required to ride with vehicles often flying along Alta Lake Road. Apart from that, development has gone surprisingly close to plan.

Following the creation of the Master Plan, the land still needed to be acquired and the parks and trails developed. Whistler saw a period of rapid recreational development in the early 1980s. Lost Lake came first, followed by Meadow Park, Lakeside and Alpha Lake. This is not to mention many smaller local parks and facilities.

To turn the recreation plan into reality there are many interesting stories that the Whistler Museum will be exploring throughout spring, in the series Creating Whistler’s Parks. Keep an eye out for these to hear about the municipality’s longest lawsuit, and how the Emerald Forest is related to hotels in the Blackcomb Benchlands.

In 1984, Trev Roote, chairman of the Advisory Parks and Recreation Commission, became Whistler’s fifth Freeman in recognition of his five years as a volunteer at the helm of municipal parks development. Trev was a West Vancouver businessman, but spent considerable time in Whistler identifying recreational needs and gaining referendum approval of $2 million parks spending. Whistler Question Collection.

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The Disappearance of Rainbow LodgeThe Disappearance of Rainbow Lodge

July 26, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

While visiting Rainbow Park, you may have noticed a few old cabins by the railway tracks; these are the last remaining structures of Rainbow Lodge. Opened by Alex and Myrtle Philip in 1914, Rainbow Lodge operated fo decades as a successful summer destination for those looking to fish, sail, hike, and more. The Philips sold their business to the Greenwood family in 1948, who continued to run the lodge until 1970, when they retired to Arizona and sold Rainbow Lodge to Joan Saxton. As Rainbow Lodge at one time included forty cabins, stables, and a store, as well as the main lodge, you might wonder why there are so few buildings left on the site today.

A panorama view of Rainbow Lodge in the 1930s, though the cabins by the lakeshore are difficult to make out. Barr Collection.

In the early 1970s, Rainbow Lodge ceased operating as a summer resort, though rooms and cabins could still be rented out. Then, on April 21, 1977, the main lodge building caught fire. According to the report in the Whistler Question at the time, there were plumbing alterations being done on the upper level of the building and somehow the fire began in the course of this work. Because the plumbing was being worked on, the water to the building had been shut off. The Whistler Volunteer Fire Department arrived at Rainbow Lodge only fifteen minutes after the call had gone out to its members and were able to contain the fire. However, they ran out of water and had to get a pump to supply water from Alta Lake as the nearest hydrant that could fill their tanker truck was at the located on Timber Lane in Alpine Meadows. The fire department was still able to prevent the fire from spreading to most of the buildings on the property but the main lodge and part of the bathroom block were described as “burned out.”

Rainbow Lodge on fire, April 1977. Busdon Collection.

The remaining cabins on the Rainbow Lodge property continued to be lived in by tenants, often younger people working in Whistler, but the main lodge building was not rebuilt after the fire. Ten years later, the municipality announced that it was going to expropriate the Rainbow Lodge property in an effort to increase public access to the waterfront. Their plan was to turn the property into a public park (the Rainbow Park that we have today). At that point, the property had quite a number of the cabins of Rainbow Lodge still standing, many of them along the shore of Alta Lake, and the municipality took over the rental agreements with any tenants.

The result of the fire in 1977. Busdon Collection.

In February 1989, a master plan for Rainbow Park was presented to Council. This plan aimed to “integrate the historical character of the area with recreation.” The central area of the park, including the location of the main lodge building, was to be lest as a seeded grassy area, which would leave open the option of rebuilding the lodge. The plan also suggested building a boardwalk to link the trail that would come through the park with the remaining buildings, which would house concessions. As well, the plan called for the reconstruction of the Bridge of Sighs and the Rainbow Lodge gateway at the park’s entrance.

Though not an exact copy, you will find a similar looking sign welcoming you to Rainbow Park today. Philip Collection.

As Rainbow Park was developed, the Bridge of Sighs and the gateway were rebuilt according to plan. Most of the buildings on the property were removed and three structures were moved further back from the shore. Today, the remaining cabins at Rainbow Park are used to share the history of the Rainbow Lodge property through interpretive panels installed in many of the windows.

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Rafting Through WhistlerRafting Through Whistler

July 19, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Rafting has long been a favourite summer leisure activity throughout the Whistler Valley. In 1913, Alex and Myrtle Philip bought their 10-acre property on Alta Lake for $700 (where Rainbow Park is today). Rainbow Lodge and the Pacific Great Eastern (PGE) Railway were both completed the next year in 1914, and together they started offering Fisherman’s Excursions. The $6 package deal included train passage and a fully catered weekend of fishing at Rainbow Lodge. When the first group of 24 anglers disembarked the train for the Fishermen’s Excursion, Rainbow Lodge had multiple wooden rafts and one boat that visitors would fish from. The first excursion was a huge success with everyone catching fish. News of the fishing on Alta Lake spread rapidly throughout Vancouver, bringing a continual stream of visitors to Rainbow Lodge in the summer.

Rafting at Rainbow Lodge. Philip Collection.

When Hillcrest Lodge opened in 1946, rafting also played a role in entertaining guests. When new guests arrived at the train station, they would be greeted by current guests in costume and then transported across the lake in a convoy of rafts. During the stay, Hillcrest Lodge offered many organised activities for guests. One of their favourite activities were the musical raft rides around Alta Lake, not unlike those that float around on warm summer days today. Raft rides would also be used to transport locals and guests to and from the Saturday night community hall dances. The community would look forward to these dances and come out in force, with Rainbow Lodge and Hillcrest Lodge sharing the catering for these popular events.

Guests were escorted to Hillcrest Lodge via raft. Mansell Collection.

70 years after Myrtle and Alex bought their land on Alta Lake, the first commercial white water rafting venture in Whistler started. Whistler was still developing as a summer destination when Whistler River Adventures opened in 1983. Asked about how things changed in the rafting business over his 27 years as owner/manager, Brian Leighton was quick to say, “Competition.”

In the early to mid 1980s, anyone could start a rafting company and many more white water rafting companies popped up after Whistler River Adventures. Following some bad rafting accidents in 1987, including 5 people who drowned after their raft overturned on a log jam in the Elaho, the BC provincial government introduced stricter regulations. The regulations introduced mandates for each river, including rules on raft size and guide experience. Although many companies already chose to follow recommended safety guidelines, strict regulations had only been in place for five BC rivers prior to 1987. River-specific tenure for raft companies was also later introduced.

An identified rafting adventure near Whistler, July 1 1984. Helmets and wetsuits are worn today during commercial rafting tours, however the expressions of exhilaration remain unchanged! Whistler Question Collection.

Remembering a trip that would not happen today, Brian recounted a staff tour along the Cheakamus River below Daisy Lake Dam. This area is now closed to commercial groups due to concerns about The Barrier breaking, which could result in massive downstream flooding and landslides from Garibaldi Lake. During the staff trip the raft became stuck on a rock in the middle of the river. A staff member living in the now-gone Garibaldi Township saw a sandal float past on the river downstream of the stranded raft and went to see if everything was okay. Everyone was rescued, although the raft remained stuck. Whistler River Adventures knew the engineer working on Daisy Lake Dam and the following day BC Hydro shut off the dam so that the raft could be retrieved from the rock. It was the eighties after all!

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