'Geers Go to Garibaldi

by Martin Mohlmann

I shouldn't be the one talking about camping trips because they're all the same to me. First, you wake up and it's raining. And you want to stay in bed but you get up anyway. You remember past trips when you got out of bed, piled in the car, got soaking wet in the first five minutes out of the car and never really recovered. Whine, whine, whine.

This latest trip, an overnighter in Garibaldi Park, was a pleasant surprise although it was raining when I woke up. The expedition took place on the Canada Day weekend; explorers were engineers Allison Gau, Steve Dick, Juliet Wyles, and myself.

It was fairly simple. We jumped on the Sea to Sky Highway, made it inside the Whistler city limits, but decided to peel off into the bush and head down the dusty road to Cheakamus lake. A lake however is not much fun when there is a cable car across the mighty Cheakamus river. A tower on each side, a cable in between, and a car hanging in the middle. Pulling it to our side we jump in two at a time and zip along the cable until we hit the lowest point. It takes work to get to the other side. Resisting the urge to play all day, we keep going. The other side of the river yields two old friends: switchbacks heading upwards and Devil's Club. Devil's Club is nasty stuff and you hope never to touch it. Switchbacks make you sweat.

Some hours later, we come to the Helm Lake campground and discover that Helm Lake is another hour and a half away. But the next campground is 8.5K away (and we've only come 8.5K) so this one works. The infamous Black Tusk looms in the distance. Still a few hours until dark so we grab a fistful of garbage bags in anticipation of a little "Glacier Surfing" and head for the Tusk. A glance at the map tells us our location: Desolation Valley. Desolation Valley is bog-like with lots of spongy vegetation and melting snow (like skiing in the spring). We are approaching the Tusk from the North-West. A closer look at the map and we would have seen a river: No cable car, no bridge, no desire to take off the boots and bare-foot it... no glacier surfing today. Rats! Foiled again. Head back to the campsite, cook the supper, wait for it to get dark, go to bed. The next day, we set off in a different direction with our brand new garbage bags. It's amazing how much velocity you can acquire riding a garbage bag down the side of a mountain. Steering is very difficult, rocks come up quickly, and you tend to fill your shorts with snow if you don't ride on your back. Riding on the stomach is an option but when the snow is rough you get winded quickly. Next time, we will bring crazy carpets.

All surfed out, we packed up and left. Switchbacks are more fun going down and the cable car is good both ways. We just stay away from Devil's Club. All in all it was a great trip: no injuries, good food, no big fights, a little surfing, and it didn't rain.

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