Black Tusk Scramble

Trip Date: Sep 17, 2022

Black Tusk (2319 m) is a prominent volcanic peak located in Garibaldi Provincial Park. I did this scramble with Anna in September last year; it was a fun trip.

Garibaldi Lake-Taylor Meadows Trail

We left Vancouver early and started our hike from Rubble Creek Trailhead at 6:20 am. End of August (2022), I had done Panorama Ridge Hike with Gaurav and Indrani. For the most part, Black Tusk and Panorama Ridge follow the same trail.

It took us just over an hour and thirty minutes to reach the Taylor Meadows and Garibaldi Lake Trail junction. After a short break, we took the trail to Taylor Meadows, and 20 minutes later, we were at the Taylor Meadows Campground.

Black Tusk Hike - Taylor Meadows Campground — Taylor Meadows Campground

As we made our way to the Black Tusk Meadows, other hikers alerted us to a Black Bear to our right.

Black Bear past the Taylor Meadows campground

It was still early in the season for the wildflowers, but the view from the boardwalk at Black Tusk Meadows was still beautiful.

Black Tusk Meadows boardwalk — Black Tusk Meadows

Black Tusk Trail

Past the Black Tusk Meadows, we reached the junction of the Black Tusk trail (left) and Panorama Ridge/Helm Creek trail (right). From this junction, it was 3 km to the Black Tusk viewpoint.

Black Tusk - Panorama Ridge Trail Junction — Trail junction

It took us about 45 minutes to reach the viewpoint, the end of the maintained trail. From here, we also had a partial but beautiful view of the lake.

Black Tusk Viewpoint - End of maintained trail — Black Tusk Viewpoint

Black Tusk Viewpoint - Garibaldi Lake View — Black Tusk Viewpoint

After 15 minutes of hiking over the rocky terrain, we arrived at a ridge with a fantastic view of the Black Tusk and its surroundings. Here we met a hiker who had camped at Helm Creek the night before, and we were surprised to hear that it had snowed at Helm Creek.

Black Tusk hike to the ridge — Hike up to the ridge

Anna suggested that we put on our helmets, and it was a good idea as some loose rocks came down the mountain as we traversed along the South side.

Traverse along the South (left) side to the base of the scramble

The final section of the hike to the summit is a scramble. There were at least two potential routes to go up. We took the route where we saw some flagging at the end of the traverse.

The route up might not be obvious at times, but the flagging (pink, purple ribbons) helps to stay on track. It is a Class 3 scramble over loose rocks.

The second chute that we went up. Pink ribbon to the left.

It was 100 m of elevation gain, and it took us about 20 minutes to reach the false summit.

To arrive at the actual peak would require us to rap/climb down to the notch and then go up a sketchy climb to the top. We didn’t have the gear and had no plans to go to the true summit.

The view from the top of Black Tusk is breathtaking and worth the effort. After a short snack break, we made our way down.

Black Tusk Geology –

We were back at the parking lot around 2 pm. It was around 28 km round trip with about 1750 m of vertical gain and took us just over 7.5 hours. This was my second trip with Anna this year after Wedge Mountain and another amazing day out in the mountains.

Territory Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge that this trip took place on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. I commit to learning about Indigenous peoples and issues and making reconciliation an ongoing effort.

Source: Native-Land Pronunciation Guide: First Nations.info