It was a hot day. The sun was shining bright and in full force. I was sitting outside my tent, at the edge of my tent pad, taking in the view. I was camping at Helm creek campground, high up in the Garibaldi Mountain Ranges, along with two of my friends. As I looked around I could see the massive face of the Black Tusk mountain jutting out of the mountains surrounding the campsite, its black surface in stark contrast to the layers of white snow all around. More closer, the campsite, which was a nice meadow like grassy field, was surrounded by Douglas fir trees all around. Right beside my tent pad ran a small creek, which made that hypnotizing sound of flowing water. As I sat there I took in all this view, mesmerized by the sound of the water against this stunning scenery. Only the constant stream of mosquitoes kept me from dozing off into a peaceful siesta like slumber.
Plan
My friend Ram asked me way back in March of this year if I would be interested in joining him and his fiancé Akshaya, for a weekend camping trip in Garibaldi. Having never done a back country camping trip in Canada before I happily agreed to join in. Having done 4 nights, 3 nights, and 2 nights of camping in multiday treks/hikes before, the only missing hiking trip was a 1 night camping trip in my list. So I thought this would be a good opportunity to complete that.
Preparation
I did the usual homework that I do before any hiking trip. Read whatever I could about the park, the campground, the trails, the risks involved and any other factors that I needed to be aware of. The best thing about this hike was that my friends, Ram and Akshaya both had done this hike before and had even camped here last year. So they knew the trails and other details. This made me a bit relaxed in terms of my preparation but I always follow the rule that even if I get separated from the group in some kind of unforeseen situation/condition, I should be fully able to sustain myself and know what to do. So I had all the proper gear and equipment with me.
Talking of gear, since I do not own a tent, sleeping bag and other accessories I rented it out from an amazing store called Packlist whom Ram recommended. They have a perfect essentials package which contains all the essential items one might need for an overnight camping. And they were kind enough to drop off and pick up from Langley, BC where I live, even though they do not cover this part of Metro Vancouver. All items were excellent. Coupled with this package and my own accessories I was well equipped for the trip.
One thing in this hike which was different from all my previous multiday hikes was bears. They are common in this part of the world and encounters with bears happen. I bought bear spray and read up on all guidelines to follow in case of an encounter with a bear.
Day 1
Distance to be covered today: (~8 km)
Change in Elevation: from Cheakamus Lake Parking Lot (700 MSL) to Helm Creek Campground (~1500 MSL)
Duration: Around 3-5 hours depending on your speed
Early in the morning, around 4 am, I drove over to Ram and Akshaya’s place where I parked my car and the three of us left in their car. A couple of hours later we arrived at Cheakamus Lake Parking lot (near Whistler, BC) which is the trail head. After some warmup stretches, we started our hike up the trail around 7 30am. The trail starts off gradually till one reaches the bridge over the Cheakamus River. From here on its a climb up. The first set of switchbacks gained us around 200 metres. This section is the hardest. Once this part is over it gets better.
We were carrying our bags with tents and all the equipment. My bag weighed around 13 kgs and I was doing this after a gap of around 8 years. The last time I did a hike with a bag that weighed like this was during the Druk Path Trek in Bhutan. I was a bit out of practice now and it showed. I kept stopping the group to take breaks. I felt like a character from a 90s movie whos been asked to come out of retirement for one last job. I huffed and puffed along while, Ram and Akshaya who have been hiking for a few years now, walked in good rhythm.
Most of the trail is covered by the trees which covers up most of the views but our conversations kept us going. Finally after a slog of over 5 hours we emerged from the cover of the trees into an open grassy field where I could see some tents with their blues and oranges standing out against the backdrop of green of the trees. The view was majestic, rows and rows of tall trees behind which stood the mountain range with their tops covered in snow and then the vastness of the blue sky. In this landscape the rugged surface of the mountain called ‘Black Tusk’ towered over the surroundings. It was a beautiful sight. Comfortably among some of the best campsites I have seen in my life.
We walked around here, looking at the multiple tent pads, deciding which ones to pick. We finally decided on two adjacent tent pads which were near a creek which ran beside the campsite. Soon we got down to pitching our tents. I had never set up a tent myself before so this was a good exercise to do one. It was fairly easy and with Ram’s help I got it all set up. After our tents were up, I informed Ram and Akshaya that I would not be joining them in the rest of the hike to Panorama Ridge as I was too tired. Also, the campsite was so beautiful, I just wanted to sit there and enjoy the tranquility of the place. In all my multiday hikes I never got the opportunity to soak up a campsite’s beauty as its all just reach, unpack, dinner, sleep and next day, leave. This was a good opportunity to finally just chill and take in the surroundings.
After a quick lunch, Akshaya and Ram were off to hike to Panorama Ridge while I wandered around the campsite looking at our surroundings. The whole campsite has around 30 tent pads, an outhouse toilet, some bear resistant food storage lockers and a couple of bear hangs. This was my first time seeing a bear hang. One has to keep all the food in a bag and hang it on one of the bear hangs to keep it out of reach of bears which are common in this area. After some aimless wandering I went back to my tent. As the inside of the tent was too hot, I made myself comfortable in the area between the tent and the rainfly. I laid down here to take a nap but there were so many mosquitoes and bugs all around that I was just constantly swatting them away. The mosquitoes reminded me of the novel ‘She’ by Rider Haggard, where the protagonists face a much larger density of mosquitoes on their journey to meet ‘She who must be obeyed’. They did not have the convenience of a bug spray but I did so I took out my bug spray and applied it over my hands and face which helped me for a while. For the rest of the day I just lazed around, just enjoying the beauty of the place. In the evening I made some nice chai and had it while sitting beside the creek. It was wonderful.
Soon, darkness was creeping in and just at the onset of dusk, Ram and Akshaya returned, mighty tired. I had some boiled water ready which we used to quickly make some dinner. Our dinner was one of those ready-to-eat food packets where one has to just add some boiling water and let it rest for 20 mins. We had Shrimp fried rice and pad Thai. We sat on the tent pad against the fading light and enjoyed our dinner. It was beautiful. Around us, other hikers too were having their dinners and were slowing tucking in for the night. By the time we finished dinner it was 10pm. Quiet time starts at the campsite at 10pm so we quickly wrapped up, washed our dishes, gathered our food, packed it and hung it up on one of the the bear hangs. As I was coming back from the bear hang towards my tent, I could the trees far away perfectly silhouetted against the dying light. They reminded me of multiple horror stories and movies. It looked beautiful. I took a couple of pics. We then retired for the night in our respective tents.
Night
After a bit of arranging my stuff inside the tent and making sure all important stuff like my mobile, head lamp and most importantly bear spray were within an arms reach, I slid inside my sleeping bag and zipped myself up. I knew I was not going to fall asleep soon as I take hours to fall asleep. I looked at my phone for a while and then just tried to sleep. Just as I was about to fall asleep I heard something climbing up the tent. To my mild shock I realized it was a mouse. I quickly shook the tent to scare it off. Throughout the night I kept hearing them make that annoying squeaky noise. Thankfully the sound of the creek nearby provided a nice rhythmic sound which dampened those scurrying sounds of mice. Also, it was very cold in the night and I had to add an extra layer on to keep warm. I had a pretty restless sleep eventually.
Day 2
I woke up next day without much sleep. As the sun rises up quite early in the morning, around 5am, it was warming up the tent. I waited in the tent for a while before I woke up, packed my stuff and went out. Ram and Akshaya were still to get up so I just wandered around and spent some more time near the creek marveling at the sight of the mountains nearby. Soon, around 8 am, Ram and Akshaya were up and we had a quick breakfast of Nutella and bread. Then we dismantled our tents and soon left the campsite. I felt like Dr. Livingstone wrapping up an expedition though this was nowhere close to those tough expeditions. I like to imagine myself in situations of my favorite adventurers both fictional and real. It adds an extra element of excitement.
Our return hike back to the trail head was uneventful and went along smoothly except for me stopping the group frequently for breaks. We reached the parking lot in around 3 hours. I was relieved to finally end the hike as I was mighty tired and my shoulders were straining under the weight of the bag. This ended my first camping trip in Canada. Major thanks to Ram who asked me to join in this camping plan.
