[simage=3038,200,n,left,]We made last minute change of plan for July long weekend because of the flooding aftermath in Calgary and southern Alberta. We decided to take an early season hike into Garibaldi Provincial Park and camp at Garibaldi Lake. We had last been here in 2005 for the Labour Day long weekend when the place was packed with hikers and campers. This early in the season, we knew there would be snow in the campground, but as we made the relatively easy hike up the switchbacks to the lake, we were optimistic that the warm weather and small snowpack this year meant the campsite would snow-free early. In fact there was a metre of snow and it was quite the challenge to even find the designated areas. We used the shovel from one of the cooking shelters to clear a flat bit of ground and then relaxed to enjoy the fabulous long afternoon and evening sunshine. Garibaldi Lake is stunning, even more so when there are less people and almost no bugs.
The next day we set off to hike to either the Black Tusk or Panorama Ridge – there was a lot of snow in the meadows and so we decided it was better to follow the well-defined trail (footprints) to the Black Tusk. It was quite a hard hike through the melting snow, but well worth it with superb views from the base of the tusk. We had an easy slide down the huge snowfield and got back to the lake for another long evening. The following day we headed back down to reality, but stopped off at the fabulous Howe Sound Brewing for lunch and picked up our usual case of beer.
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