Snowshoeing Taylor Meadows-Garibaldi Lake Loop

Snowshoeing to Taylor Meadows. Photo by Slawomir

Last weekend (March 6-7), avalanche hazards were Considerable due to recent snowfall and wind. Slawomir and I looked at different options and finally settled on the Panorama Ridge hike in Garibaldi Provincial Park. Once on the trail, we had to change our plans, and we ended up snowshoeing Taylor Meadows-Garibaldi Lake loop.

Avalanche Canada Forecast for South Coast – March 6. Source

Panorama Ridge is a 30 km out and back hike with about 1500+ m elevation gain/loss. On January 30, we had done the Garibaldi Lake hike (18 km) in under six hours. We estimated it would take anywhere between 10-12 hours to do this hike, so we decided to have an early start.

I met Slawomir at David’s Church at 5 am, and then we drove to Rubble Creek Parking Lot. The roads were in much better condition this time, and we were the first ones to arrive at the parking lot. By the time we geared up and hit the trail, it was 6:30 am.

Hike to Taylor Meadows-Garibaldi Lake Trail Junction

It was my second time on this trail, and I had a better sense of the terrain. As expected, the initial section of the trail was icy but manageable. We continued to hike in our boots and didn’t see a need for microspikes.

Garibaldi Lake Trail in Winter — 6:30 am on Garibaldi Lake Trail

It took us about forty minutes to get to the 2.5 km mark and another thirty minutes to get to the 4 km sign. We were hiking at a steady pace, and I was monitoring my heart rate. It was in the sweet spot of 140-150 bpm for the most part. An intensity I could maintain for a couple of hours.

The snow was packed for the first five km. Later we had more snow on the trail, and snowshoes might have helped, but we continued to hike in our boots till the junction.

Garibaldi Lake Trail Winter — Garibaldi Lake Trail

We arrived at Taylor Meadows-Garibaldi Lake trail junction in just under two hours and took our first break. There was a lot more snow on the ground compared to our last visit.

Snowshoeing to Taylor Meadows

After a good break, we got our snowshoes on and made our way to Taylor Meadows. It was the shortest way to Panorama Ridge. We would have hardly hiked for about 10 minutes, and we found ourselves trudging in snow.

After the first few steps, we realized that we would not make it to Panorama Ridge. We decided to continue hiking to Taylor Meadows and then decide on what we would do next.

Although there were no fresh tracks, it was relatively easy to figure out the trail to Taylor Meadows based on the trail signs/paint on the trees and the terrain. It took us about an hour to reach Taylor Meadows.

Taylor Meadows in Winter — Taylor Meadows. Photo by Slawomir

The visibility was limited, but it was beautiful. We went into the day shelter for a short break.

Taylor Meadows Day Shelter Winter — Taylor Meadows Day Shelter

Taylor Meadows to Garibaldi Lake

It was still early in the day (around 10 am), and despite our slow progress, in the last one hour, we were feeling good about continuing the hike. We won’t go to Panorama Ridge but would hike to Garibaldi Lake and then hike back down.

I had downloaded the map for the area in GAIA and checked the trail. We had to continue on the Taylor Meadows trail for a short section, cross the creek and then turn right (South) at the Logger’s Cabin.

Taylor Meadows to Garibaldi Lake Snowshoeing — Slawomir on the trail to Garibaldi Lake

It seemed straightforward, but within few minutes of the day shelter, I lost the trail. After some exploration, we were back on the trail. It took us about 20 minutes to reach the Logger’s Cabin less than 200 m away from the day shelter.

Logger's Cabin at Taylor Meadows in Winter — Logger’s Cabin at Taylor Meadows

I now had my phone out and was navigating using the GAIA app. Slawomir was on this trail for the first time as well. He was better at navigating based on the terrain features (steepness, tree density, natural corridor for trail) and looking out for trail signs on the trees.

Logger's Cabin at Taylor Meadows — Slawomir outside the Logger’s Cabin at Taylor Meadows

When in doubt, I would turn back to Slawomir, and he would confirm that we were going in the right direction. For the most part, we managed to stay on the trail. That is until we merged with the Garibaldi Lake trail coming from Taylor Meadows-Garibaldi Lake trail junction.

We missed the trail sign and ended up over Upper Rubble Creek. Thankfully Slawomir was familiar with this area, and around noon, we arrived at the bridge at the northwest end of the Garibaldi Lake.

Garibaldi Lake

We slowly made our way across the bridge and took a break closer to the lake. Four hikers arrived shortly at the lake, and they ended up taking our trail over the creek.

After a short break, we started breaking trail on the actual Garibaldi Lake trail instead of going back over the creek. As we made our way up from the lake, the sky cleared, and we had a glimpse of Mount Price and Guard Mountain.

View of Guard Mountain from Garibaldi Lake Trail

The views were beautiful, but our progress was slow. We were now breaking trail across some steep sections, and at times we were walking through two feet of snow. It took us 50 minutes to cover 500 m. Finally, we reached a point where other hikers had already made a trail coming up to Garibaldi Lake.

We still had more than eight km to hike out but knew it wouldn’t be as hard. We made our way across Barrier Lake to the junction at the 6 km mark.

We took off the snowshoes and picked up pace for the final 6 km hike down.

We were back at the parking lot just past 3:30 pm. For the day, we had hiked about 19 km with 1100 m elevation gain/loss. The best part for me was the experience of breaking the trail for four km. It was the best workout of the season.