Another tempting place to visit in Whistler Village is Purebread Bakery. After much deliberation Sandi chooses the Buckwheat Sour Cherry Scone and Tim the Apple Galette and Lemon Basil Blueberry Scone. Well-sustained, we’re off to do a little ghost busting.
Decades ago, starting in the 1920s, logging was Whistler’s supporting industry. Eventually the logging industry slowed down and in the 1950s the busy community of Parkhurst, perched on the far shore of Green Lake, was abandoned. As recent as the late 90s a few houses remained standing but the merciless winters with crushing snow has collapsed all but one. For the most part the town has disintegrated and now lies as a ghost town. To get there we follow the Sea-to-Sky trail, a few kilometers north of Whistler Village.
Once on the Parkhurst Trail the mossy, picturesque forest takes on a surreal, spooky feel.
Has a ghost been nibbling here?
We come across several abandoned vehicles in town. An old, rusty car, an older truck and an ancient and enormous logging tractor perched as it was decades ago on the edge of the lake. It’s like a giant museum exhibit.
Abandoned in the 1950s the last remaining house of twenty houses is painted with a haunting apparition of a face.
A curious Stellar’s Jay, whose colour reflects the painting, stops by to see what we’re up to.
Old bottles still litter the town.
Sandi scouts the house for friendly ghosts.
We find ourselves trying to imagine what life was like here so many years ago.
Back in the land of the living we end our ghostly adventure on our favourite patio, The Den Restaurant, at Nicklaus North Golf Club.
