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== Introduction ==
[[Image:Ktims.jpg]]
Garibaldi Lake is located in the large (and aptly named) Garibaldi Lake park, located about half an hour from Squamish. Both trailheads are easily accesible by car and well marked with ample parking year-round. The Barrier trail hike to the lake makes a good day hike (18km round trip), several good day hikes are available from the lake and meadow sites. There's lots to do; a five or six day trip would be best to see most of the trails around the lake.
== Access & Fees ==
I'm from Langley, and unlike most of you, don't attend UBC. Langara represent!
Access is well-marked and quite direct from Highway 99. To access the Barrier trailhead, turn right off the highway past Rubble Creek. The park service has a sign to direct you. Follow the road to the parking lot. For access to Cheakamus Lake, take a right from Highway 99 a few kilometers before Whistler. There's a logging road through an observation forest for a few kilometers before the parking lot. A loop is possible with two vehicles; allow for a minimum of two days. Note that cellular service at both trailheads is fairly spotty (July 2004) and no pay phones are available. Trying to coordinate a pickup may be an issue. At least the Barrier trailhead has a pit toilet.
Fees are paid at the parking lot, $5 a night per person and include parking.
==Categorization==
I'm going to make an attempt to categorize things on the Wiki. It seems that nobody's done this from the start, so it could be an interesting undertaking...anyone else is welcome to help. If you didn't know about the categorization features of Mediawiki, just create a link to Category:CategoryName anywhere in the article, and the article will be added to that category. A link will be added at the bottom of the article, and the category page will contain that article. New categories can be created simply by linking a page to them, and each category can have information added about it and such on the category page in the normal fashion. Creating a link to more than one category will add the article to all the categories linked. This should make it easier to keep track of the various indexes of articles.
== Sites ==
Here's a start for a structure, comment on my [[User_talk:Ktims|talk page]]:
The Garibaldi/Black Tusk trail ring has three camping areas. In summer, pit toilets are usually stocked with toilet paper.
* [[:Category:Trip Ideas]] (these are self-explanitory)
This is the largest and most well-equipped site on the hike. There are four large cooking shelters with picnic tables, counters, sinks a line for hanging food bags. These are well maintained, but often busy. Several pit toilets are provided, and a staffed ranger station is a few hundred metres from the camping area. The site is quite large, and finding space is usually not a problem. This site is on the lake, with spectacular views of the Sphinx Glacier across the lake and the Black Tusk. [[Burton Hut]] is visible across the lake, and the Glaciology huts can be seen with binoculars. This site is probably where you'll want to base your trip. Water is available from the lake, but should be filtered or boiled. Be advised that some campsites are generally snow-covered until early July, BC Parks provides fairly good information on their site on trail conditions.
** [[:Category:Backpacking Trips]]
** [[:Category:Car Free Trips]]
** [[:Category:Paddling Trips]]
** [[:Category:Climbing Trips]]
** [[:Category:Mountaineering Trips]]
** [[:Category:Camping Trips]] (for sites with 'normal', drive-to-site camping)
* [[:Category:Areas]] (an index of geographic areas an article may be related to, this should be general and not only for trip ideas [eg the land use issues pages])
** [[:Category:North Shore]]
** [[:Category:Tri-Cities]]
** [[:Category:Squamish-Whistler]]
** [[:Category:Lillooet-Kamloops]]
** [[:Category:Fraser Valley]]
** [[:Category:Coquihalla]]
** [[:Category:Washington]]
** [[:Category:Vancouver Island]]
** [[:Category:Nearby Islands]]
* [[:Category:Huts]]
** [[:Category:Construction]]
* [[:Category:Club]] (for club events, administravia, etc.)
** [[:Category:Events]]
** [[:Category:Administrative]]
** [[:Category:Trips]]
** [[:Category:Journal]] (for all the VOCJournal TOCs)
I've never visited this site. According to BC Parks, this site has a single cooking shelter, some picnic tables and food hanging facilities. Tent platforms are provided, presumably in a meadow setting. Someone who's visited should add more information.
I've also added a couple of warning templates to help improve consistency. Also, a GFDL license template. They're at [[Template:Warning]], [[Template:Illegal]] and [[Template:GFDL]], and were basically taken verbatim from Wikipedia (allowed under GFDL). They look like this (view the source to see how to use them if you're not a Mediawiki veteran):
=== Helm Creek ===
{{Warning}}
This site is located about halfway between Garibaldi Lake and Cheakamus Lake, in a grassy clearing. There are about half a dozen tent platforms and pit toilets. A food hanging rig is provided. Drinking water can be drawn from the nearby creek. In early July 2004, mosquitos were rampant here, bring lots of repellant or plan to arrive late and leave early. Mostly this is a place to stay the night on the way to the Cheakamus trailhead, there's not much of interest nearby.
{{Illegal}}
{{GFDL}}
== Hikes & Routes ==
==Silly Ideas==
Hiking at Garibaldi is quite diverse, and many good trails are available. BC Parks maintains a few good trails, and several unofficial trails in various degrees of repair are accesible as well. Garibaldi is a good destination for a weekend or longer hike, with enough to do to keep you busy for five or six days at least. If you're doing a two or three day hike, doing the Barrier trail to the lake and choosing between Black Tusk and Panorama Ridge (or doing both) is a good option. For a longer trip, you may opt to do a loop between the two trailheads, spending a night at Helm Creek on the way. This requires two vehicles.
Before I go to bed, one more silly thing...
=== Barrier Trail ===
Maybe it would be a good idea to have a 'glossary' of hiking/climbing/skiing terms with definitions? I'm not an expert by any means, and I find myself looking things up around here once in a while (yoyoing for example).
This hike will take you from the Garibaldi Lake trailhead to the lake proper. It's not a difficult hike, but prepare for 9km of fairly steady climb and switchbacks. No scrambling or steep grades are involved. It can be done in four or five hours, and makes for a reasonable day hike. Plan on six to seven hours with a few day's of gear and a lunch stop. There is a rest area around 6-7km with benches and (IIRC) a pit toilet. Most of the hiking is through beautiful douglas fir forest, with the last kilometre or two travelling around Barrier Lake and Lesser Garibaldi Lake. Trails are well maintained and quite busy, expect to see a wide range of day hikers and backpackers sharing the trail with you. There's a rock outcropping on the right of the trail about about halfway that makes a good spot to stop for lunch. Birds and rodents readily approach looking for food, and there are some good views to be had.
=== The Black Tusk ===
[[Image:Black tusk.jpg|thumb|right|The Black Tusk]]
This hike begins from either Garibaldi Lake or Taylor Meadows. It's 7km one way from Garibaldi Lake, with approximately 850m of elevation gain, though most of this is concentrated in the first kilometre or two of trail. From Garibaldi, head north out of the camp area and stay right to climb some steep switchback up to a meadow. A leisurely hike through some meadows (beautiful wildflowers in late July-August) and many streams will take you to the junction with the trail from Taylor. There is a map and informative display here. Continue east along the trail to the base of the tusk. Loose volcanic rock abounds here, though in early summer climbing the snow is easier going. This is not difficult, and could not justly be called scrambling, but the rock is quite loose and fairly steep to reach the base of the tusk itself. From the eastern side of the tusk, traverse around to the west side for an easy climb to the top of the tusk. This could be omitted if you're not a climber. Good views of the surrounding landscape and mountains from both the base and top of the tusk. The tusk can get quite windy, be prepared with a good windbreaker and be ready for sudden gusts if climbing.
=== Panorama Ridge ===
[[Image:Garibaldi lake.jpg|thumb|right|Garibaldi Lake from Panorama Ridge]]
Panorama Ridge provides spectacular views of Garibaldi Lake and the surrounding glaciers, as well as the Black Tusk. It's about 7.5km one way from Garibaldi Lake, with an elevation gain of about 650m. The hike is easy, a majority of it is on flatlands and traversing a hill. The trail branches off from the Black Tusk trail near Taylor Meadows, at the map and information display. Simply follow the trail up the ridge. Helm Glacier is accessible from the north side of the ridge, and sledding down it on your rain gear (or garbage bags work even better) is great fun; the hike back to the trail is not difficult or long.
=== Mount Price ===
There is anecdotal evidence of a well-maintained trail up Price, but details are unavailable. I may attempt to find and do this hike in the summer.
=== Helm Creek ===
This hike is fairly uninteresting, but will take you from Garibaldi Lake to Helm Creek (or vice-versa) on your way to the other trailhead. It's a fairly flat 10km or so, mostly spent in the valley below Panorama Ridge and in some thick forest. The hike is not difficult, but the forest gets quite dark early in the day, you may run into dark conditions if you leave late or choose to hike after doing Panorama. Many creeks crossed the path through the flatlands in early July, and some rock hopping was required. Rocks were chicken-wired in many places, but jumping in some spots was difficult with a pack full of gear. The water was not deep and would not pose a hazard greater than wet boots, however. The Cinder Cone makes a good lunch stop.
=== Cheakamus Lake ===
Starting from Helm Creek, this will take you to the Cheakamus Lake trailhead (or the lake itself, if you're a particularly sturdy hiker). It's about 8.5km to the parking lot, add an extra 4km if you plan to visit the lake area. There is a long switchback section before a sturdy steel bridge crosses Cheakamus River. From here, head left to follow the trail to the parking lot. Taking the parking lot to Cheakamus Lake makes for a very easy and short day hike, with some swimming at the lake.
=== Burton Hut ===
[[Burton Hut]] is directly across the lake from the Garibaldi Lake campground. It is accessible in the summer by backcountry hiking around the lake. This trail is not marked and is not easy, use caution.
=== Recommended Trips ===
==== Day Hike ====
* Garibaldi Lake. The lake is beautiful and provides good facilities for hikers stopping in before heading back down. Doing the hike in a day may be grueling for inexperienced hikers; it is about 19km with about 800m of elevation change
==== Weekend ====
* Hike to Garibaldi Lake via Barrier and set up camp there in early afternoon on a Friday, if you can, otherwise early Saturday
* Saturday (set up camp if you're just arriving,) do either Panorama Ridge or Black Tusk
* Sunday return to the Barrier trailhead
==== 4-5 Days ====
* Park a vehicle at the Cheakamus Lake parking lot and return to the Barrier trailhead in your second vehicle
* Day 1 - Hike to Garibaldi Lake via Barrier and set up camp
* Day 2-3 Spend two days at Garibaldi Lake to do Panorama Ridge and Black Tusk
* Day 4 - Pack your gear and hike to Helm Creek
* Day 5 - Pack again and hike to Cheakamus parking lot
== Links ==
[http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/garibald.htm Park Website (BC Parks)]
[http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/garibald/gar_2001.pdf Park Map (BC Parks)]
Getting way too ambitious around here, methinks...
[http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/garibald/trail_updates.pdf Trail Status (BC Parks)]
[http://gallery.gotroot.ca/garibaldi Gallery of (725!) photos from July 2004 trip]
Latest revision as of 06:30, 26 May 2005
I'm from Langley, and unlike most of you, don't attend UBC. Langara represent!
Categorization
I'm going to make an attempt to categorize things on the Wiki. It seems that nobody's done this from the start, so it could be an interesting undertaking...anyone else is welcome to help. If you didn't know about the categorization features of Mediawiki, just create a link to Category:CategoryName anywhere in the article, and the article will be added to that category. A link will be added at the bottom of the article, and the category page will contain that article. New categories can be created simply by linking a page to them, and each category can have information added about it and such on the category page in the normal fashion. Creating a link to more than one category will add the article to all the categories linked. This should make it easier to keep track of the various indexes of articles.
Here's a start for a structure, comment on my talk page:
Category:Areas (an index of geographic areas an article may be related to, this should be general and not only for trip ideas [eg the land use issues pages])
I've also added a couple of warning templates to help improve consistency. Also, a GFDL license template. They're at Template:Warning, Template:Illegal and Template:GFDL, and were basically taken verbatim from Wikipedia (allowed under GFDL). They look like this (view the source to see how to use them if you're not a Mediawiki veteran):
This article describes a technique or task that may be unsafe
Please exercise caution when utilizing this information.
This article describes behaviour that is illegal
The content of this article is not an admission of guilt by the editor, nor should it be emulated.
Editors:Be aware that anything you add here will be visible to any and all forever. It cannot be deleted. Don't add anything here that might implicate you or others.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. Subject to disclaimers.
Silly Ideas
Before I go to bed, one more silly thing...
Maybe it would be a good idea to have a 'glossary' of hiking/climbing/skiing terms with definitions? I'm not an expert by any means, and I find myself looking things up around here once in a while (yoyoing for example).
Getting way too ambitious around here, methinks...
