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| Guard Mountain and Glacier Pikes from mid-point across Garibaldi Lake |
Location: Garibaldi Provincial Park
Driving Time: 1.5 hrs from North Vancouver
Ascent Time: 7.5 hours
Complete Time: 15 hours
Cumulative Elevation Gain:
1200 m
Total Distance: ~36 km
I've seen more than my fair share of scenic wonders around the world, but Garibaldi is quickly climbing to the top of the list -- it is breathtaking. Ever since I first saw Sphinx Bay on east side of the lake from top of Mtn. Price I wanted to come to visit. Quite difficult in summer (there are no trails), but in winter one can simply walk across frozen lake. Having never been to Garibaldi in winter, I decided to make this as first real hike of 2011.
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| Alpha Mountain |
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| Omega, Pelops and Niobe |
Roadside viewpoint some 20 km north of Squamish looking west towards Tantalus Range.
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| Trailhead Kiosk burried in snow |
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| Mandatory AVI Sign |
Summer Trailhead after extra 45 minutes of slogging up access road, which is not plowed in winter. I started without snowshoes, but decided to put them on after 15 minutes -- they stayed on for the rest of the day. I carried micro-spikes as well as recent reports called for slippery sections, but they were not required -- last week has seen lots of fresh snow in BC Coast Mountains.
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| Winter Wonderland on Rubble Creek Trail |
Rubble Creek Trail to Garibaldi Lake is 9 km long with ~850 m of vertical elevation gain. It consists of 3 sections: 1) Initial 2.5 km slowly rising in easterly direction; 2) Tight switchbacks with majority of elevation gain to Taylor Junction at km 6; 3) Contouring around lesser Garibaldi with little elevation gain towards huge glacial valley that holds the main Lake. It takes me about 2.5 hrs in summer; twice as much in winter conditions.
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| Taylor Junction Sign |
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| Taylor Junction Kiosk |
Taylor Junction at 6 km mark. Main trail continues straight for 3 km to Garibaldi Lake; left fork leads to Taylor Meadows (with excellent camping facilities).
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| Lesser Garibaldi |
Entering Lesser Garibaldi about 500 m beyond Taylor Junction. At this point it is much better to swing left to the summer trail in the woods; continuing straight (as I did) eventually leads to narrow canyon where the skiers trail abruptly ends. This led to some unpleasant steep sidehill bash that wasted both time and energy. I hoped I'd make it to the lake by noon; at this point it was clear I'd be more than an hour behind schedule.
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| Garibaldi Bowl |
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| Castle Towers |
Arriving to the Lake after whopping 5.5 hrs. Wind picked up and I was feeling tired, but amazing scenery made me forget all the trouble.
It was almost 2 pm and I was 2 hours behind schedule. If I started heading back right away, I might have been able to hike out by dark. But conditions like this don't happen often. I considered my options. I was familiar with the area, weather was calm and I hiked in the dark with headlamp before. I thought I'd simply take my chances and after 15 minute break continued with original plan and started heading east across the lake towards Sphinx Bay. Fabulous panorama unfolded as I was walking past Battleship Island and familiar peaks I successfully climbed during last couple of years.
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| Hot Soup Break |
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| Price and Clinker |
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| White Tusk |
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Garibaldi Highway |
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| Gentian Peak |
Long, straight road ahead. Other end appears deceptively close -- it took me almost 2 hours to cross, but I was probably stopping to much for photo breaks. The track beaten by skiers was fairly solid and my snowshoes didn't sink too much.
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| Black Tusk |
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| Glacier Pikes |
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| Guard Mountain (center), Glacier Pikes (right), Sphinx (left) |
Fabulous panorama south east from second half of the lake; in particular towering Guard Mountain and enchanting Glacier Pikes above Sentinel Bay.
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| Entering Sphinx Bay |
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| Table |
As I finally started nearing Sphinx Bay, Towering Sphinx Glacier was overwhelming. Glacier Pikes disappeared behind Guard Mountain and were replaced by famous Table, which I've never seen so close.
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| Tents at Sphinx Bay |
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| Burton Hut |
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| Sphinx Camping |
Burton Hut was full -- I was told over 30 people (!) were staying overnight. To my surprise plenty of tents were scattered around, despite cold temperatures (supposedly dipped bellow -20 Celsius the night before).
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| Posing by Burton Hut |
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| Sun sets behind Mt. Price |
I took brief 10 minute break by the small watering hole someone punctured in the ice. I wish I could have stayed -- while area begs for exploration! I will come back in late summer when I can have entire area to myself. Descent from Gentian Pass is question mark, but it has been done according to several Club Tread reports.
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| Sphinx Bay |
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| Panorama Ridge |
It was 4 pm when I snapped last couple of photos from small rise above the campground. Long hike out waited, but nothing really mattered anymore at this point.
One last photo as late afternoon shadows from surrounding peaks were growing longer. The wind picked up and mostly covered my tracks that were left just an hour before. I stowed away my camera, closed the jacket and picked up the pace. Halfway across the lake I met young couple heading in opposite direction -- across the lake, in the dimming light. They told me they would "sleep in a cave". Wow -- surprises never end.
When I reached west end of the Lake the sun was long time gone, and it was getting dark. I took out my headlamp (brand new, bought in MEC on Broadway the day before!) and settled in for long hike out. Somehow I took the wrong turn; the trail became narrow and started climbing. Eventually I ended up in Taylor campground! Nobody was there, and I could not find broken trail down to the Junction. Not wanting to risk getting really lost I backtracked and soon I was back on the right path, but I lost about an hour -- not to mention precious energy that I started running quite low on after such a long day. I was also dehydrated; I kept eating snow to sustain myself -- as I write this few days later, my throat is still sore. Eventually after what felt like forever I opened the door of my car at 11:05 pm -- full 15 hours since I left in the morning. Dead tired, but heart full of priceless memories. Brief 7/11 stop in Squamish for coffee and muffin; I was back to Vancouver past midnight. What an amazing day!
