Trip Summary

Let me set the stage: It’s the end of April. The weather is forecasted to be the warmest and sunniest it’s been all year. The avalanche risk is high in the alpine, treeline, and sub-treeline. I am flying home to Ontario in 3 days. And I am about to sleep under the stars for the first time, ever. 

Trip Breakdown

Friday

Hit the trail around 12:45pm

Visit Red Heather Shelter around 2:30pm (4.5km)

Find a tent spot 6pm (6.5km)

Cook dinner and watch the sunset

Stargazing 10-11pm

Saturday

Sunrise 5:30am

Breakfast 6:30am

Tear down camp and hike out 8am

Back at parking lot 10:45am

Sit in Sea to Sky traffic 11am – 2:30pm 

Trip Details

This backpacking trip to Elfin Lakes surpassed all my expectations and was one of the most memorable trips so far. Because of the avalanche warning, we hadn’t decided if we were going to go backpacking until the morning of, so we didn’t hit the trail until around 1 pm. We chose Elfin Lakes because of the low elevation grade of the trail and the numerous flat sections along the hike. Compared to a lot of other 1000+m routes, this one was one of the safest. 

Remember that trip I took to Wedgemount Lake where I didn’t bring snowshoes and regretted it? Yeah, that happened again. The snow was pretty deep and soft underneath a thin layer of ice. I spent a lot of time pulling myself out from knee-deep holes; I had bruises on my shins to show for it. BUT, the sun was shining, and it was warm, and I had nothing else to do but hike. 

We found a tent spot around 6 pm and dug a foot-deep rectangle in the snow for my tent. Instead of setting up the tent though, I laid it down flat as a ground sheet, with my sleeping mat and bag on top. We had a beautiful view of Mt Garibaldi, and there wasn’t a cloud in sight.

Also, this was my first weekend trying out my Harmony House Foods dehydrated food! It was such a treat to have vegetables, lentils, and potatoes in the backcountry. They took a bit longer to rehydrate than I expected, but it very likely could have been because of the temperature and elevation. We cooked dinner (fighting off those adventurous BC parks birds who are used to getting hand-fed trail mix) and watched the sun slowly go down. The sunset was so incredible; it had been a long time since I’d seen a 365-degree clear alpine sunset. 

I tried to stay awake until the stars came out fully, but I will admit that I fell asleep around 9:30 pm. Thankfully, I woke up around an hour later to stargaze. The night was super clear, and we were far from light pollution. I even saw a few shooting stars!

Of course, I was up for sunrise at 5:30 am the next morning. The east-facing mountains turned pink, then golden, as the sun came up. Mt Garibaldi was majestic and beautiful. And the best part was that I could watch it all from my sleeping bag. Next, we made breakfast and packed up, hitting the trail around 8 am. 

Due to an unfortunate accident that closed 4 lanes of the highway, we sat on the Sea-to-Sky for almost 4 hours. While I was airing out my gear in the back of my van and eating trail mix, I thought about how amazing and peaceful this backpacking trip was. I am very grateful for the sun, the mountains, BC Parks, and my friends who will sleep in the snow with me. 

Key Points

• If you’re debating bringing snowshoes, just bring them. You probably won’t regret it.
• Sleep under the stars!! And make sure you look at them when it’s nice and dark.
• Get yourself some dehydrated veggies.