Not so early start

Although we are capable of getting up at heinous hours, this trip did not feel worthy of such effort. 6am wake up, 6:30 out the door with Yerba-mate in hand. Barely earlier than the weekday grind. From My friends Burnaby apartment to the trailhead took approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes which got us on the trail just before 8am.

The first 6 kilometers of the hike consists of a gentle, but consistent, climb to gain you around 750 meters. This part of the trail is in great shape and the morning forest was cool, perfect conditions to power up the trail on fresh legs. After about 1:15 we made it to the junction to Taylor Meadows and Garibaldi Lake, we chose the former as it is the most direct route to our objective.

From the junction to Taylor Meadows Campground is roughly another 1km and 150m elevation taking us less than half an hour. Here we took our first break and replenished a water bottle from a nearby stream, using a treatment tablet to kill off anything that would ruin our day out.

Unfortunately, this is where the bugs found us, and so shortly before 10 we were back on the trail, barreling through Taylor Meadows towards the Black Tusk.

Metea taking an opportunity to cool off

The Grind Begins

The trail through Taylor Meadows is relatively level compared to the previous 8km but on a hot day the sun is oppressive, we were getting cooked. Thankfully the views are lovely and the going is quick so it didn’t feel like long before we were at the junction to the Black Tusk and Panorama Ridge.

View of Garibaldi Lake, The Table, and Mt. Garibaldi

Up until the junction we had not encountered much snow at all, an unfortunate outcome for the couple who we passed carrying skis on the way up, but for us meant we could keep a swift pace.

Seemingly instantaneously after the turn-off however, we were met with slushy mess we had been dreading. From the junction at around 1650m, we made the slow and draining climb through the snow towards the Black Tusk. The remaining 600 metres of elevation to the Black Tusk took us the same amount of time as the last 1000.

As our previous planned trip to Chilliwack called for a bit more intense snow gear, we had actually brought with us crampons, ice-axes, and helmets. As it was already taking us a lifetime to climb this steep snow pack, we thought, might as-well take longer by taking our gear for a spin. Needless to say, we looked ridiculously over-prepared and it earned us a few comments from fellow hikers.