Trip Summary

Not every backpacking trip goes exactly as planned… especially when the trail is steep and covered in fresh snow. Nevertheless, we had lots of fun hiking the Wedgemount Lake trail and camping in the snow. Read this post to learn from my (happy) mistakes!

Trip Breakdown

Saturday
Arrive at Wedgemount Lake trailhead at 10am
Hit the trail by 10:30am
Stop for lunch around 12pm
Struggle through deep snow until 3pm
Set-up camp 5.2km and 850m elevation gain
Dinner and sunset at 5pm
In tents by 8pm

Sunday
Sunrise (ish) at 7am
Breakfast and camp tear-down
Hit the trail by 9am
Back at parking lot by approx. 12pm
Lunch in parking lot

Trip Details

Despite leaving Vancouver shortly after 7am, we did not get to the trailhead until 10am (mostly due to Whistler traffic, slightly due to our stop in Squamish). The trailhead parking lot was not plowed and had lots of deep snow potholes, so we parked in the lower parking lot and added 2km to our trek. The weather was a promising overcast with flurries but it wasn’t too cold. The first section of the trail was lovely: microspikes were needed but the snow wasn’t too deep. The trees were covered in fluffy snow, and it was nice and quiet. This trail is uphill 90% of the time, with no switchbacks, so that’s a bit brutal.

However, it wasn’t until after lunch that we started getting into trouble. Disclaimer: only 1 person in our group of 4 had snowshoes. The logic was that we’d put the snowshoe person in the front to pack down the trail; the rest of us would follow in spikes. THIS IS NOT HOW IT WORKS. Every person needs snowshoes. We were sinking up to our waists in deep deep snow. Tree wells threatened to swallow us up whole. PLUS it was steep as heck (and no switchbacks to rest). I think at one point we were moving slower than 1km/hour. But hey, we were still laughing.

Finally, we made it to the only flat section of the trail, about 2.5km from the lake. Based on our current pace, tiredness, and disappearing daylight, we decided to set up camp in the forest off the trail. This turned out to be a wise decision. Note that you are only supposed to camp at designated campsites in Garibaldi Park. However, we practiced the Leave No Trace principle, and winter camping doesn’t hurt the vegetation since we were on at least 2 feet of snow. Here, we explored a nearby boulder field, walked further along the trail without our packs, and cooked dinner. We even got to see some of the sunset through the trees.

It snowed overnight and was cloudy in the morning. As good backpackers, we still got up for sunrise and cooked breakfast. Soon after, our tents were packed and we headed back down the trail. This was slightly easier than the day before because we could step into the sinkholes we made on the way up. We were back at the parking lot by lunch. Overall, the fact that we didn’t make it to the lake didn’t bother me; I still really enjoyed the trip! A weekend in the woods is much better than a weekend in the city.

Key Points

• BRING SNOWSHOES even if you don’t think you’ll use them
• Know your limit, and play within it (also know when the sun sets!)
• Being outdoors is fun regardless of whether you reach your destination