Mt. Price

Sept. 10 - 11, 2020

Stats: 35 km / 1743m gain / 2032m high / 11 hours MT

Day 1 to Garibaldi Lake: 13.5 km / 913m gain / 3.5 hours MT

Day 2 to Mt. Price summit and total descent: 21.5 km / 830m gain & 1726m loss / 7.5 hours MT

This hike involved scrambling, a bit of bush-whacking and route finding. Not everyone's cup of tea. But wow! What a view!

We started hiking at 1:00pm, having to drive through a check point first and present evidence of our reservation.

The Black Tusk + Panorama Ridge are the most popular hikes in a very popular park. Mt. Price not as much. As mentioned in my intro, it's a challenging trail to take on and requires some experience and proper gear.

What a coincidence -- at the 4-way junction, we met my husband's cousin, Pete.

3 pic slider. The trail leading to Garibaldi Lake is broad and very well maintained.

At the mouth of the river flowing out of Garabaldi lake.

Garabaldi Lake.

Mt. Price is the peak to the left.

My adventure buddy.

From left to right: Castle Towers, Phyllis's Engine, Mt. Carr, Bookworms, Deception Peak, Glacier Pikes, Sharkfin + Guard & Sphinx Glaciers.

Sunset.

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Day 2:

There are 49 sites, 3 outhouses and 3 bear caches at Garabaldi Lake campsite.

Early morning = calm waters. Price is beckoning us to come.

The trail started just past this dock and ranger station.

Clinker Peak's barrier lava flow. This is the lower peak west of Mt. Price.

The trail in the forest was well flagged. The campsite is located by the little islands.

Approaching the end of the gully and forest. Clinker Peak is now in view.

At the end of this gully there's a fork in the trail with a pink-flagged small tree. Go left!

Now came the hard part: climbing on loose scree on a steep slope. Plus trying to stay on track. It's easy to lose your way here. My GPS came in real handy.

With each step we took, we slid back a bit.

The Tantalus Range -- west.

At the col. The Black Tusk to the north. I've summited it 3x.

Ascending the slope of Mt. Price. Table Mt.(left) and on the other side of the Culliton Creek valley are Mt. Garibaldi and its west peak, Dalton Dome which tower over the Warren Glacier.

Views from the summit. With a dozen or so volcanic vents in the vicinity, geologists call this area the Garibaldi Lake Volcanic Field, part of the larger Garabaldi Volcanic Belt and Cascade Volcanic Arc.

North.

Southeast.

South.

Table Mt. is an example of a tuya; a flat-topped edifice created by an early Holocene eruption under the Cordilleran Ice Sheet.

West.

Wendy surprised me and took along a dress to wear on the summit to celebrate in (while our sweat-soaked hiking clothes dried in the sun).

East.

This pic overlaps the previous pic somewhat -- southeast.

Garabaldi Lake -- north.

High fives!

Heading down again.

Mt. Price was formerly called Red Mt.

You'd think the summit of the Black Tusk is pointed but it's not. It's actually quite flat.

Mt. Price summit.

Going down the scree was much easier than going up. I dug my heels in and did some boot sliding.

Once at the lake I bee-lined it to my campsite to get my water filter. There were no sources of water along the trail to Mt. Price. Wendy and I had both run out over an hour earlier.

After a short very nice nap we packed up and continued our journey down.

It was now 5:00pm.

Back at the four-way junction. After this I started to smell smoke.

The typical red hue created by the forest fire smoke.

We returned to a very hazy valley at 7:15pm, having passed many hikers still coming up for the weekend. Odd how the air had been so clear up there and not anywhere else.

This hike ranks among my favourites now. The lake is a great place to relax and while away the evening hours and the hike to Mt. Price was a very rewarding challenge.

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