Last month, a new friend from work and I ventured to the foothills of Garibaldi Provincial Park to take on the highly visited Garibaldi Lake Trail. Besides the fact that this tourist and local hotspot has been essentially sponsored by Instagram over the summer season, I had to see this glorious place for myself.

Since we were taking on the trail on a weekday in the middle of October, it was safe to say that we had the trail to ourselves. We started the hike at approximately 8am, after a 1 and a half hour drive from downtown Vancouver. Like all the trail guides say, you’re basically climbing an incline for the first 6 miles, or 2 hours or so, of the hike. After that, it levels off quite a bit to have a lovely little gallivant through the remaining trail to the breathtaking lake. It took us about 3 hours to hike up and just under 2 to get back down, with a lovely lunch on the dock of the lake as a resting point.

This gem of a hike is wonderful for many reasons; one, you get a spectacular view that only hikers have the privilege of experiencing, unless you’re willing to shell out the big buck$ for a private helicopter or plane ride up to the lake. Two, the hike is extremely do-able, and though by all means do I not advocate completing the hike in flip flops, you could if you really wanted to (and were okay with having a rolled ankle or two from the way down for a while). Three, exercise, which I always enjoy, because it means I get to eat more dessert.

Can’t wait for spring to roll around so I can take in more of the blue lakes in the area. Just a couple of months now!