It was a busy morning today. My family and I went to the beach to pick up garbage in the morning. We got two 4 gallon paint buckets full of garbage within an hour. It seems the most common item were cigarette buds, ranked number one by far, then followed by beer bottle caps in a distant second place. I guess smokers and beer drinkers really love to littler on the beach. We then spent some time to play at the beach and went to the library afterwards. I finally home and have time to type up my weekly hiking post.
I decided to write about our family hike to Garabaldi Lake back in September 2020. My kids were 9, 7, and 2. It was a good year for family hikes, because the older kids were old enough for longer hikes and the little one could still be carried around in the baby carrier. As a result, we were not as limited by the length or difficulty of different hikes.
Map and info board at the trailhead.
Garabaldi Lake is an out and back trail in Garabaldi Provincial Park, BC. The trail is approximately 18km long round trip (9km each way), with about 980m elevation gain. There is also a back country campground next to the lake, so we saw numerous back country campers hiking on the trail with their camping gear during our hike. The lake shown in first hiking post is Garabaldi Lake, but the pictures were taken way up high on Panorama Ridge, which is approximately 630m above Garabaldi Lake.
Small stream to the side of the trail.
Early section of the trail with numerous switch backs.
The beginning sections of the hike shares the same trail as our Panorama Ridge hike, through a series of switch backs, gradually gaining elevation and distance. At the 6km mark, however, there is a junction, where taking the left fork takes you to Taylor Meadows (there is also another campground at Taylor Meadows), Black Tusk, and a shorter way to Panorama Ridge; while taking the right fork brings you to Garabaldi Lake. We continued on the right fork for another 3km from the junction and would eventually reach Garabaldi Lake after crossing a small metal bridge. The views at the lake were very pretty, with the turquoise water being the foreground, and the Sphinx Glacier and surrounding mountains as the backdrop. We had lunch next to the lake. My kids enjoyed playing with the water. Then we slowly made our way back to the parking lot taking the same route as we got to the lake.
Fork between Taylor Meadows and Garabaldi Lake.
Lots of loose rock.
7km mark, two more kilometers to go.
Another small stream next to the trail.
Crossing the small metal bridge to reach the lake.
Bear proof food cache for campers. Keeping food away from the campground is a must when camping in bear country.
My daughter dipping her feet in water while enjoying the view.
Check out my previous hikes:
  1. The Panoramic Views of Panorama Ridge
  2. The Golden Larches of Frosty Mountain
  3. The Winter Snow of Pump Peak at Mount Seymour
  4. Sapphire Waters and Azure Skies of Battle Bluff
  5. It Isn't Always Sunshine and Blue Skies
  6. The Frozen River and Waterfalls of Maligne Canyon
  7. The Amazing Arches of Arches National Park
  8. The Bizarre Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park
  9. The Magnificent Stones of Zion National Park
  10. The Flowing Walls of Lower Antelope Canyon
  11. A Glimpse of Hope at the Hope Lookout Trail
  12. Turquoise Waters viewed from Sea to Summit Trail
  13. The Three Peaks of Mount Seymour
  14. The Serene Winter Scene at Dog Mountain
  15. Murrin Loop and Jurassic Ridge
  16. Yosemite National Park
  17. The Bear's Hump at Waterton National Park
  18. Views of Okanagan from Pincushion Mountain Trail
  19. The Half Frozen Waterfalls at Franklin Falls
  20. Hole in the Wall of Vancouver Island
  21. Sometimes You Just Get Lucky
  22. Winter Wonderland at Alexander Falls
  23. Eagle Bluffs
  24. Smuggler Cove Marine Provincial Park
  25. Admiralty Point
  26. Myra Canyon Trail
32 sats \ 1 reply \ @Athena 10 Jun
I really want to hike and love mountains but my fear of heights doesn't actually permit me go beyond.
reply
There should be hikes that doesn't involve much elevation gain. Hike to seas or lakes are good options if you're afraid of heights. It depends on where you live though.
reply
Beautiful
reply
Thanks!
reply
The lake view is beautiful! I've listened that the lake is a turquoise in color??
reply
Yes, it's turquoise because of the glacial flour.
The turquoise colour of the lake's water is due to glacial flour suspended in the meltwater from its two primary inflows, the large Sphinx Glacier to the east and the Sentinel Glacier to the south on the flanks of Mount Garibaldi.
reply
Very beautiful. Love this post
reply
Thanks!
reply
You're amazing! I took a lot of inspiration from your posts and for the first time in my life decided to do a hike in the great Himalayas. Initially I decided to reach at 4000 m elevation but I ended up at more than 6000 Metre.
reply
Wow 6000 meters! That is amazing! I've never gone higher than 3000 meters. I really wish I can visit the Himalayas one day. How do you even breathe up there? Do you need to stay extra days to acclimatize to the elevation or are you already acclimatize because you live in high elevations?
reply
To correct myself it was actually 5300 M elevation.
I researched a bit about the highest elevation point on the road and found it out. The +6000 M is the peak of the mountains. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchachuli
reply
Amazing views! The Himalayas is just breath taking. Thanks for sharing the pictures.
reply
We didn't stay at 6000 M for so long. However, while I personally didn't feel anything different except for a little trembling in the legs and some heavy breathing. My friend had headache and other related stuff. So, we soon drove down...
I don't live in high elevations. My abode is right at the foothills of the starting point of the Himalyas and it's hardly 500 M elevation.
You can join us here next year if you like. We're planning an SN meetup in India. Details here- #565707
reply
I guess when you don't stay overnight, the elevation sickness don't kick in as much. I hope your friend was alright afterwards.
reply
Yes, he is fine. We actually stayed at below 4000 elevation. It was the best trip of my life!!
reply
Good to hear that he is alright and also good to hear that you had a great trip!
reply
Great idea to keep food out of reach of bears!
reply
All back country campgrounds here have these types of food cache, as we have lots of bear in our mountains and parks and it's very dangerous to keep food in or near tents.
reply
I understand though it makes me think that I would be unease at that area.
reply
💯
reply
How old are your kids?
reply
They are 12, 11, and 6 now. They were 9, 7 and 2 during the hike.
reply