What can I say, we just can't get enough of Canada this year. We've loved having Markus up there to inspire us to discover new places and we took advantage of the three day weekend to make a fourth trip up for the year.
We took off on Friday afternoon and made it to Vancouver just in time for dinner and drinks with both new and old friends. It was great to see everyone again, and good to finally meet some of those we'd been hearing about.
Saturday morning we woke up to more sunny skies and Matt, Markus & I hit the road again. Destination: Garibaldi Lake trailhead, just south of Whistler. It was a quick and beautiful 1.5 hour drive, and we hoisted our backpacks and started the long slog up to the lake. This wasn't the most beautiful part of the weekend, but it was all worth it as soon as the lake slipped into view. The campground by the lake was full and we had almost reconciled ourselves to walking the 2km back to the 'meadows' campground when we got lucky and some late leavers cleared a space for us. We spent the rest of the evening wandering the lakeshore, cooking up some delicious (if only because of the circumstances) Mountain House pesto pasta w/ salmon and just enjoying our surroundings.
Sunday we 'slept in' until 7:30 (late for camping, and 1.5 hours later than we set the alarm for) but still managed to accomplish everything we hoped to. Sunrise on the lake shore was spectacular. Backpacking w/ a base camp is one of my favorite things, because you can leave all the heavy stuff and bring just your food and water. It was a long day, clocking at about 15 miles and 5200 feet of elevation gain but our feet were light and we thoroughly enjoyed it. First stop of the morning was Panorama Ridge. You can only see about 1/3 of the lake from the campground and the stunning color really pops from the elevated angle...it was certainly an amazing view. Not only was the lake view great, but there was literally 360 degrees of snowcapped mountains in the distance. Next up was Black Tusk (aptly named) which also offered some spectacular views and some interesting volcanic terrain.
We took off on Friday afternoon and made it to Vancouver just in time for dinner and drinks with both new and old friends. It was great to see everyone again, and good to finally meet some of those we'd been hearing about.
Tomas & Christina
Markus, Matt & me @ Black Frog in gastown
Matt & Marie
Scooter gang. I was jealous
Markus & Marie @ Relish
Saturday morning we woke up to more sunny skies and Matt, Markus & I hit the road again. Destination: Garibaldi Lake trailhead, just south of Whistler. It was a quick and beautiful 1.5 hour drive, and we hoisted our backpacks and started the long slog up to the lake. This wasn't the most beautiful part of the weekend, but it was all worth it as soon as the lake slipped into view. The campground by the lake was full and we had almost reconciled ourselves to walking the 2km back to the 'meadows' campground when we got lucky and some late leavers cleared a space for us. We spent the rest of the evening wandering the lakeshore, cooking up some delicious (if only because of the circumstances) Mountain House pesto pasta w/ salmon and just enjoying our surroundings.
Markus backpacking in flip flops. Silly Germans. ;)
our first view of the lake
The boys on our island eating dinner
Last perfect rays of sun
hot chocolate time
Sunday we 'slept in' until 7:30 (late for camping, and 1.5 hours later than we set the alarm for) but still managed to accomplish everything we hoped to. Sunrise on the lake shore was spectacular. Backpacking w/ a base camp is one of my favorite things, because you can leave all the heavy stuff and bring just your food and water. It was a long day, clocking at about 15 miles and 5200 feet of elevation gain but our feet were light and we thoroughly enjoyed it. First stop of the morning was Panorama Ridge. You can only see about 1/3 of the lake from the campground and the stunning color really pops from the elevated angle...it was certainly an amazing view. Not only was the lake view great, but there was literally 360 degrees of snowcapped mountains in the distance. Next up was Black Tusk (aptly named) which also offered some spectacular views and some interesting volcanic terrain.
perfect morning
Battleship Island
Black Tusk in the distance
A tiny piece of the amazing view from Panorama Ridge
buddies
nearing the top of Black Tusk
love
Glissading! My favorite part of climbing mountains, even when its just shorts between me & the snow, and no ice axe in sight.
Markus was a first-timer
The lake and trails were fairly busy, but B.C. parks does a good job of managing it so that it doesn't feel crowded or overrun (the vast majority of the time at least), especially considering it was a holiday weekend. That afternoon the boys decided to take a dip to freshen up (I couldn't bring myself to get into the glacial water), we had a three course meal, some lovely neighbors donated some Crystal Light mixers for the evenings libations, and the views again did not disappoint. We headed to bed once the temperature plummeted (no campfires allowed) and got an early start the next morning.
cooling off
Thanks Ash & random neighbors
We bombed it down the mountain, made it to the car by 10am, and were back in Van by noon. After some showers we rejuvenated ourselves with giant burgers and milkshakes. We stopped by SFU where most of our friends up there attend, took in the view of Van, and then picked up some others and made our way to Kits Beach - a new part of town for Matt & I. We had a great time relaxing, playing frisbee, soaking up some last holiday rays of sun and then grabbing some food and drink before starting the long trek home. We got home way later than planned of course, but it's hard to tear ourselves away.
Kits beach
Frisbee
And hey, look, I'm finally caught up (posting the week something actually happened)! Weekend road warrior life doesn't really stop for us for another 6 weeks or so but it's slowed down enough that I should be a little more sane. Don't forget my little voting buttons below (It's the two year anniversary of the blog)!
