Trail Stats
Distance:
Rubble Creek Trailhead – Taylor Meadows: 7.5km
Taylor Meadows – Garibaldi Lake: 2km
Garibaldi Lake – Rubble Creek Trailhead: 9km
Elevation Gain: 820m
Difficulty level: Moderate
Parking: Yes, at trailhead. Need parking pass (book two days in advance via BC parks OR for camping reservation, book three months in advance)
Getting to the trailhead
Rubble Creek parking lot is located off Highway 99 between Squamish and Whistler. As mentioned above, you need either a parking pass or a camping reservation in order to complete this trail.
The trail
The first 7 KM consists of never-ending switchbacks through a sheltered forest. Although it is a constant uphill drag, it is very manageable with backpacks as it never gets too steep.
During peak summer, the trail is obviously very busy. We camped here at the end of May and beginning of June when there was still winter conditions so there were far less people which made the trail more enjoyable as we could hear a woodpecker drilling in the trees and the echoes of a grouse.
The trail was clear until around the 4 KM mark which was when the snow appeared. For the next 3 KM to Taylor Meadows, the snow got deeper and deeper. We were not prepared for wintery conditions like we should have been (rookie mistake). When we did it at the end of May, snowshoes were needed because the snow was so soft and on multiple occasions, a wrong step meant we were hip deep in the snow. However, when we did it two weeks later in June, there was much less snow so spikes were sufficient.
We were supposed to camp at Taylor Meadows but the tent pads were impossible to find. Even the signs and outhouses were submerged in the snow. In the summer, the meadows are full of wildflowers which blossom around the end of July and there is a great view of Black Tusk from here. Since we couldn’t find a suitable spot, we decided to continue on to Garibaldi.
The trail to Garibaldi was 2 KM uphill through thick forest, made even more challenging by the blanket of snow obscuring the path. We tried our best to follow faint traces of footsteps from previous hikers, but found ourselves falling deep into the snow several times. Once we reached the lake, we had to walk across an extremely narrow path along its perimeter. There were several people coming against us so we had to try to stand in which resulted in immediately falling through the snow. What passes as a trail in the summer is just a series of large rocks lining the lake. But in winter, they’re completely hidden beneath the snow, turning each step into a gamble. One wrong move and your foot plunges deep between the rocks.
It took a while to find a tent pad, but thankfully some other campers pointed us in the right direction. The platform they saw that was about 20% free from snow. It was uphill, tucked away behind the trees. A beautiful hidden spot where you could see the lake between the branches, but uphill meant more falling through the deep snow and getting even more soaked. We had to dig out the platform using a stick, a plate and a rock and about an hour or so later, there was enough space for our tent! (note: there are supposedly shovels in some of the shelters at Garibaldi, unfortunately for us we couldn’t find them).
When we did this in May, the lake was completely frozen yet when we came back two weeks later, it had largely melted and there was much less snow. That time, we were able to camp closer to the water as the ground was clear.
Tips / Advice
Be bear and cougar aware! – The day after we did this in June, a cougar was spotted on the trail and campers had to leave the area. There are spots to hang your food by the shelter
Be prepared for winter conditions – bring spikes/snowshoes and assume it will be near freezing at night
