One of my favourite provincial parks to visit near Squamish is Joffre Lakes. Ever since I first learned about this area, I鈥檝e been going back year after year to explore different corners of it, and with each visit, I have become even more impressed by its natural beauty.聽
My first visit to Joffre Lakes in 2010 also coincided with my first time backpacking overnight. I had just purchased my first tent and after a dry run at Alice Lake near Squamish, testing everything out, my wife, Spring, and I decided to hike to Joffre Lakes for our first experience with wild camping.
We filled our packs with everything we could find. Six eggs, packs of bacon, cans of chili, six bananas and a lot of unnecessary clothes and magazines.聽
We learned the hard way how difficult carrying a heavy backpack could be.聽
That first night in our tent was not as relaxing as I imagined it would be. Early in the morning, I awoke to a curious sound. I sat up in my sleeping bag, and as my eyes adjusted in the dim twilight, I could see a mouse at my feet, inside the tent, looking right at me.
I realized quickly I had left some granola in the tent and the mouse had chewed through the walls in search of it. I looked at my wife, sleeping beside me, and wondered if I should wake her, creating a commotion in the cramped space, or if I should try to catch the mouse and run the risk of it hiding in my wife鈥檚 sleeping bag.
As I mulled over my options, the mouse made my life a little easier by scurrying over to the hole it had made and kindly exiting the tent. I quickly grabbed one of the magazines we had brought and used it to block the hole before gathering up any food in the tent and putting it outside.
I can鈥檛 say I got much sleep after that, but thankfully, the sun was soon up. We explored above the shores of Upper Joffre Lake before hiking out with a long list of changes to make in how we would pack for camping next time.
Fast-forward to December 2011, when we had become experienced campers and hikers and had learned to travel lighter and faster in the mountains. Around this time, my wife and I started to become interested in serious mountaineering. We had begun reading terrain and informing ourselves of avalanche conditions.聽
We set our sights on climbing the north face of Slalok Mountain. Anyone who has visited Upper Joffre Lake has seen this face rising up from the lakeshore. To me, it was inspiring, a straight shot upwards on continuous snow all the way to the top.聽
Knowing we would have very little daylight at that time of year, we left Squamish around 2 a.m. driving north to the Joffre Lakes parking lot. To be honest, by the time we got there, I turned to Spring and said, 鈥淟et鈥檚 go home.鈥� It was still dark, and the temperature outside was -15C, and that night I had actually had a nightmare about our trip up Slalok going badly. I usually don鈥檛 believe in premonitions, but the images from that dream were playing on my mind.聽
A reason Spring and I work so well together in the mountains is that she doesn鈥檛 rely on me to always take the lead as the man. She knows the mountains don鈥檛 care about gender. You are either capable or not. On this occasion, she knew she needed to lead, and knowing full well what she was doing, she said, 鈥淟et鈥檚 get to the upper lake at least. We don鈥檛 need to climb the mountain, but let鈥檚 bring our equipment anyway.鈥�
I agreed, and by the time we reached the upper lake, the pale winter sun was out, my mind had cleared and I was inspired to continue up the climb in front of us.聽
We used our experience with moving on steep snow and glaciers to ascend efficiently, and a few hours later, we topped out on the summit. It was at least -20C with windchill up there, so we didn鈥檛 linger. We quickly started back down the mountain, getting back to our vehicle well after dark but satisfied with our accomplishment.
By the summer of 2014, I鈥檇 been back to this park on a few occasions, climbing and reaching the summits of Joffre Peak, Mount Matier, Mount Howard and a few more. I had grown comfortable with being in the mountains, so when a friend asked me to join him on a trip up Slalok Mountain again but via a different route that I had not tried, the west ridge, I agreed, expecting a fairly straightforward day in the mountains.
We both hiked fast, past upper Joffre Lake continuing onwards over the summit of Tszil Mountain before beginning the west ridge route. The scrambling on the ridge was exposed and airy but enjoyable. A short while, later we reached the summit and ate lunch. The clouds were starting to build around us so, begrudgingly, we left the summit earlier than we wanted. We could see rain start to fall on the horizon and we knew that it would soon be upon us.
We picked up the pace of our descent. There is one steep section of scrambling on the ridge that we did not want to have to down-climb after it was wet from the rain.
We managed to get past that section just as the rain hit hard. We put on our rain jackets and continued down, knowing the terrain would get easier. We imagined the worst was behind us.聽
A few moments later, I began to hear an odd fizzing sound over my shoulder. I froze, knowing what this signified. I had heard it once before in the Tantalus Range, right before I had been caught out in a lightning storm. There was so much electrical static building in the air that the tip of my ice axe was beginning to crackle and fizz as I moved it through the air.聽
I turned to my friend and yelled out to get low. Lightning flashed and immediately the sound of thunder surrounded us. We huddled beside a rocky outcropping. The lightning was right on top of us, flashing every few moments. The skies darkened and hail began to fall so hard that it stung exposed skin.
We sheltered as best we could and within half an hour the storm had moved on, giving us a window to descend. The rest of our hike out was uneventful in comparison, but it was a reminder to never become complacent out in the hills. The mountains always hold all the cards and tend to keep a few of them hidden up their sleeves, like sudden thunderstorms and hail in the middle of summer.
Over my past five years in Canada, I鈥檝e visited Joffre Lakes at least a dozen times, and I have many future trips planned to this small but valuable park.聽
If you鈥檝e never been, any time is a good time to visit this park. Even in winter, the upper lake is reachable as a day trip on snowshoes or skis, but plan to visit again in the summer to see just how much the area changes when the wildflowers come out and the lake turns a stunning aquamarine colour.
Joffre Lakes Provincial Park is a park for all seasons. So, when are you going?
