Happy New Year! Hope everyone’s
holidays were enjoyable; I had a relaxing Christmas vacation in Alberta hitting
up Canmore, Calgary and Edmonton. It’s always
great to visit the usual suspects and see my friends’ cute kids, but
unfortunately there weren’t many exciting pictures. Instead I thought I’d rewind a bit and show
some shots from a late fall hike up Black Tusk, part of Garbaldi Provincial
Park. Photos are mainly mine, but credit
also goes to JS and Rod.
This is a highly recommended hike off the highway between Whistler and
Squamish. It’s got everything –
mountains, glaciers, turquoise alpine lakes, flowers, meadows and a freakin’
volcano! I was excited since it was my
first hike since recovering from my knee injury. It was a bit of a struggle to get up the shale
at the end, but the views were definitely worth it. 30 km
and 1740 metres of elevation gain isn’t too shabby for a day hike, although it
made for a long day.
Not too early of a start at the trailhead. Looking a little tentative before starting
the countless switchbacks to get us up the mountain. I'm keeping warm with some thermal layers while JS follows the adage "be bold - start cold".
Caught our breath at a lookout with the Tantalus mountain range in
the distance.
Garibaldi Lake was our lunch stop. Glacier-fed and surrounded by mountains, I’d
definitely return here for some backcountry camping and a nice sunset.
Fall colours in Taylor Meadows
Onwards and upwards! My
first glimpse of the black lava tusk poking out the top.
Getting closer….trees and shrubs are starting to become sparse. The tusk looks almost unnatural with its dark, jagged
edges. The weather is amazing - could I have asked for a better day?
The trickiest part is climbing the loose shale which slides with
each step – it felt like it was one step back for two steps forward.
Made it!
It’s crazy looking back and seeing what we just did – looks pretty
precarious although you’re further from the drop-off than it looks. I like that
this picture captures the long line of people struggling up the slope in the
background.
Other Black Tusk trivia:
·
Black Tusk is a stratovolcano characterized by “a steep profile and periodic explosive eruptions”. Krakatoa
and Vesuvius were both stratovolcanoes.
·
Formed ~1.1 million years ago, it last
erupted ~170,000 years ago (hopefully no more “explosive eruptions” in my
lifetime).
·
To the Squamish First Nations it is
known as the “Landing Place of the Thunderbird”
Views from the top
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