Elfin Lakes

On Saturday I had the honour of taking on an ambitious snowshoe adventure with Neil and Rachel Barkman. Our destination was Elfin Lakes, which are located a bit past Squamish in Garibaldi Park. 

The trailhead starts below the snow line and takes you up to Red Heather Meadows (which really feels like the top of a mountain) for a ways, then down the other side where the two lakes are located. I was surprised by how populated the trail was. Most people looked prepared to camp the night down by the lakes, but there were plenty of day hikers as well.

Near the halfway point is a cabin with wood stove where hikers, snowshoers, and back-country skiers can rest and warm up. It was very charming.

There is a point where we had a nearly 365 degree view of the surrounding mountains, including Mount Garibaldi in all its grandeur.

We stopped for lunch just before the descent to reach the lakes. Lunch on top of a mountain with that sort of view is my favourite thing in the world.

I'm so thankful that Neil and Rachel were eager to join me on this expedition. They are joyful and adventurous and maintain fantastic attitudes, even when they're feet are covered in blisters. All-in-all, we snowshoed about 22km. We were absolutely exhausted by the time we made it back to the parking lot, but also empowered by all that we had accomplished.

We made a Cypress Mountain Lookout pit stop on the drive home. The city looked sparkly and magical far below. It was a really lovely capstone to our day.