Black Tusk | Garibaldi Park, BC

Distance (out & back): 31 km • Elevation gain (total): 1801 m • Max elevation: 2295 m

We decided to go up the Black Tusk for the third time as a backpacking trip, camping for 2 nights at Garibaldi Lake. We started from the Rubble Creek Trailhead on a Sunday (Jul 30) at 1:40 pm and was able to find a parking spot easily. The first 6.5ish km was in the forest - quite boring with no views - and seemingly went on forever. On the plus side, you’re guaranteed to have some shade throughout the day and the trail had a steady gradual incline that was quite even/smooth, likely from being both well-maintained and being heavily trafficked.

We were surprised to see Garibaldi Lake very busy even during the weekdays. On a hot day many people would go take a dip, but the lake and campground areas generally stayed cool from the glaciers, and at night it would get pretty cold.

Originally our plan was to do both the Black Tusk and Panorama Ridge on the same day from the Garibaldi Lake campground, but that has proven to be too ambitious for us, especially because we had terrible sleep the night before and didn’t actually start the hike until 8:30 am.

As expected, the views from the meadows all the way to peak were breathtaking, which made all the bug bites, the grind up the scree slope and the sketchy scramble(s) completely worth it. However, please WEAR A HELMET (don’t be like us)! There are always loose rocks falling down at or beyond the chimney, even if it is clear of people. If you’ve never done a scramble before, I’d suggest sitting this one out and trying easier/safer scrambles first. Anyway the views at the base of the Black Tusk were just as amazing as the views at the top.

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GEAR

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