Never having done the Joffre Lake hike I was extremely excited to experience the beauty I had seen in photos all over social media. I was not disappointed and can’t wait to do it again.
The alarm at 5:30am was a rude awakening from my very short sleep, but I’m very glad that we left as early as we did. Brushed my teeth, packed the car and left my house. We were meeting at one of our friends houses to carpool with 6 of us total, I drove us three girls, and in the other car, the three boys.
Quickly picked up a Starbucks to give me my morning boost and we were on our way. The girls had a little sleep on the way up while I listened to Spotify and navigated the windy road of the Sea-to-Sky highway. The highway has an amazing view which set the stage for our day. We were one of few cars on the road at such an early time which made the drive quick and easy. We all met up at one of the many Tim Hortons in Squamish for a quick bite to eat now that our stomachs were awake, had a few laughs and then hit the road again.
Following the signs, past Whistler, and Pemberton, and headed toward Lillooet. Following the twists and turns of the road we finally, almost three hours later, made it!
The first lake (in the photo below) was a little bit of a lunch bag let down and I was excited to see the what the other lakes would look like. We started the hike and were constantly in awe of the beauty around us. There weren’t many people on the trail which made it nice and calming.
A little over an hour later we went around a bend in the trail, and there it was, the amazing view that has been plastered all over the internet. The photos are amazingly beautiful, but the real view is breathtaking (photo seen below). There were clouds blocking the mountains and as we soaked up the view the clouds slowly lifted to expose a view only seen in dreams. The lake was so clear and had a vibrant blue/green colour, the sky was a pure blue, the sun hit the remaining snow on the mountains and glistened. We stayed at that lake for almost an hour taking photos and enjoying the view. There were some fearless birds that came to visit us, eating some bird seed from our hands.
Once all the photos had been taken we made our way to the last lake (photo below). We passed a roaring rapid-like waterfall and no more than ten minutes later we were hit by a view that can’t be described fully in words. Everywhere you turned there was something new to see. Across the water there were some tents of campers. Glaciers scattered on the mountains. We sat on some rocks looking at the view in front of us, eating some trail mix. I could have stayed there forever. The boys went swimming in the ice-cold water. Once they had dried off and defrosted we headed back to the base.
I’m not sure where they got the time estimates for the duration of the hike, but it didn’t take us anywhere close to as long as they said. It was a spectacular hike and the views were well worth it.
What would I do differently next time? Pack a lunch to eat at the top, bring a tripod and more bird seed, and possibly camp at the top.
Timeline:
5:30 am – Wake up
5:45 am – Leave house
6:00 am – Meet up with the squad
6:05 am – Quick stop at Starbucks
6:10 am – Let the first summer adventure of 2017 begin
7:00 am – Pit stop in Squamish, BC for a real Canadian breakfast at Tim Hortons
7:30 am – Back on the road
8:50 am – Arrive at Joffre Lake
9:00 am – Start the hike
9:04 am – Reach 1st lake
10:16 am – Reach 2nd lake
10:50 am – Leave for 3rd lake
10:57 am – Arrive at 3rd lake
11:50 am – Leave 3rd lake, head back to base
12:45 pm – Reach base