Trip Summary

This adventure is a 1-night backpacking trip that I took at the end of September 2022. We hiked from the Rubble Creek Trailhead to Panorama Ridge for sunset and camped overnight at Garibaldi Lake Campground.

Trip Breakdown

Friday
Start at Rubble Creek Trailhead around 10:30am
Arrive at Garibaldi Lake Campground around 2pm (10.1km and 957m elevation)
Set-up our tent on our BC Parks Backcountry reserved tent site
Quick swim in the icy lake!
Leave around 4pm for Panorama Ridge
Arrive at Panorama Ridge at 6:30pm (7.3km and 652m elevation)
Eat dinner and enjoy the sunset!
Hike back to Garibaldi Lake (in the dark)

Saturday
Watch the sunrise and eat breakfast around 7am
Tent teardown and pack up
Leave for parking lot around 10am
Arrive back at the car around 1pm (10.1 km and 957 elevation)

Trip Details

What a way to start my B.C. backpacking adventures! Hiking to Garibaldi Lake and Panorama Ridge should be on everyone’s bucket list; the views are breathtaking. Prepping for this trip was easy: I booked a tent pad at Garibaldi Lake Campground from the B.C. Parks website. Arriving at Rubble Creek Trailhead was easy and perfectly doable in a Toyota Prius. We hit the trail at a leisurely 10:30 am. The trail was somewhat busy at the start, but it thinned out the further we hiked. The elevation was difficult in some spots, however, there were no technical aspects of this hike. I was grateful to have hiking shoes with good grip on them (that being said, the friends that I travelled with were wearing regular running shoes and did just fine).

It took us around 3.5 hours to get to Garibaldi Lake; we stopped often for photos and to admire the view. When I first stepped from the forest onto the bridge at the lake, I could not believe what I was seeing! The crystal blue lake, snowy rocky mountains, and clear skies were like something out of a painting. We had to hop across rocks on the water’s edge to get to the campground and picnic area, due to high water levels (nothing too difficult, but watch out for the wobbly rocks!). We absolutely had to jump into the icy cold lake for a swim and it was worth losing feeling in my toes. There is no sandy beach, so if you have lightweight water shoes, you won’t regret using them here.

After drying off, setting up our tent (first come, first serve for tent pads, but we had no problem finding a nice one!), and having a quick bite to eat, we set off for Panorama Ridge. Note that the lake is one of the only bodies of water along the trail to the ridge, so make sure you fill up before you go! I would recommend leaving slightly earlier than 4pm in September/October, since we got there right at sunset. The trail to Panorama is not well-marked, especially the 2nd half of it. Also, the last 100m-ish is scrambling up rocks to get to the peak. This was the most difficult part of the hike for us, but the reward of summiting that peak and seeing the sunset made it so worth it.

We made ramen noodles (as one does at the top of a mountain on a backpacking trip) and took many pictures, before leaving just over an hour later. Remember the scrambling up loose rocks on the way there? It’s even MORE fun on the way down in dark. Take it slow and use a good headlamp. And sing some songs along the way, to let the bears know you’re there (my personal favourites are American Pie and Bohemian Rhapsody).

The next morning, we got up for sunrise around 7am. While it was beautiful, I forgot that the mountains block the sunrise by around 40mins to 1hr, so you can definitely sleep in a little more than I did. After eating breakfast and packing up our tent, we headed for the parking lot, taking just under 3 hours.

Key Points

• Book a tent spot in advance from B.C. Parks
• Be prepared to hike back in the dark if you’re going to Panorama Ridge for sunset
• The trail to Garibaldi Lake is easy to follow, but it is trickier to get to Panorama Ridge (use a navigation app if you can)