Pemberton to Cat Lake: Sea to Sky Cycling

By Dave Briggs · Published 2009-09-17 · Last updated 2026-07-18

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After a couple of days working on a farm in Pemberton, it was time to resume the bike tour across Canada once more. Today, I cycled from Pemberton to Cat Lake.

Cycling from Pemberton to Whistler

(Blog post written: September 2009)

Anna had left early in the morning to go to a farmers market, so we had said our goodbyes the night before. All breakfasted up, packed, and loaded, I left her a thank you note and set out.

Anna had kindly left some tubs of food to take on the road, so it was just a quick resupply in Pemberton, and then back out onto the main road to Whistler. There was a fair amount of climbing, but lifted by the last few days, it didn't really matter.

Bike repair in Whistler

Whistler is going to co-host the 2010 winter olympics with Vancouver, and there is still some residual infrastructure work going on. I stopped in Whistler, to take my bike into a bike shop to get the cables and brake pads changed.

A girl there had been biking the Pacific Coast route that I plan to take in the USA, so I made mental notes whilst Matt from New Zealand worked on my bike. It was a good place, and they didn't charge me labour for the bike, just the parts - thanks guys and gals!

As for Whistler itself, well, its basically a tourist town, and I felt a bit out of place and couldn't wait to leave. That said, I think they will do a fine job hosting the Olympics, its just not my cup of tea. I'm more PG tips and that was a bit Earl Grey.

Cycling from Whistler to Cat Lake

With brakes that actually stop the bike, I set off towards the town of Squamish. On the way, I saw Anna and possibly Jennie (?) coming back in the other direction from the farmers market. Sorry if I didn't have time to wave!!

I planned to stop just short of Squamish at a forestry area called Cat Lake which I thought was free, but after negotiating a 3 km mud track, found cost 12 dollars. Still, it was a nice enough place, and I got a big camp fire going at night.

Note - On the way into Cat Lake, I saw a helicopter which had a man sitting on a platform underneath it. The helicopter was flying along the power lines, and the man was either testing them or cleaning them. Whichever it was, it looked a bit odd, and glad it wasn't me up there!!

Dave Briggs
Dave is a UK travel writer living in Athens since 2015. With 20 years of firsthand travel experience and over 80,000 km of bicycle touring across six continents, he's been blogging at Dave's Travel Pages since 2005. Every guide is based on places he's actually been.

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