This morning, I woke up at 7:30 AM and slowly got ready and headed over to Burrard Station where I would be meeting the Meetup Group for the Joffre Lake Hike (https://www.meetup.com/Vancouver-20s-30s-Outdoor-Adventurers/events/232496717/). The group originally planned on driving up on Friday, camping two nights, and driving back to Vancouver on Sunday. The group on the trip consisted of the following people:
- Kate
- Physician
- Native to Toronto/Canada
- Passionate about bodybuilding/working out
- Graham
- Project Design Manager (He creates professional plans based on the architect’s general rendering
- Alicia (Maki)
- Japanese young lady working in Canada for a couple of years as a massage therapist
- Marky
- Young lady from Czech Republic working as an assistant/drawer at an architecture firm
By the time we arrived at the Joffre Lake Trailhead, it was already about 2PM. I completed my permit at the trailhead, and we began hiking the trail. The trail starts at about 800 meters, which is the approximate elevation of Lower Joffre Lake. Over the course of the next four kilometers, the trail ascends to approximately 1100 feet, the elevation of Middle Joffre Lake. Finally, about .5 kilometers later, the trail reaches Upper Joffre Lake at an elevation of 1200 meters.
Throughout the trail, there were stunning views of turquoise blue water, fast-flowing ice-cold rivers, dense forests, and barren rocky mountain slopes. With every view and sight, I was filled with awe and felt like I needed to take a photo to capture the beauty in front of me. The photos simply can’t capture the beauty and the experience hiking Joffre Lakes.
As we reached Middle Joffre Lake, there was a secured log extending into the lake from the shore. Kate, Maki, and I each took turns walking out onto the log and taking photos. What made it exciting is the freezing cold water in the lake, which would be an ultimate shock/wake-up/experience of falling into. Thankfully, none of us fell in and we continued on another .5 KM to Upper Joffre Lake.
A few minutes after passing Middle Joffre Lake, we were peering at Upper Joffre Lake and the prominent glaciers nestled in the mountains above the lake. There are officially only 35 camping sites along Upper Joffre like, which wasn’t enough to accommodate the roughly 50 groups which were camping at Joffre Lakes on Friday night. To deal with the shortage, many groups were walking in every direction in order to find a flat area large enough to pitch a tent. We ended up taking the adventure one step further and crossing a freezing cold, glacial river in our bare feet to cross over to a less-populated potential camping area. Across the river, we found four suitable spots for our four tents. We then set up camp and spent a relaxing night sleeping with the white noise of a combination of many waterfalls, rivers, and the lake.
