Dan at Elfin Lakes:
“Eight of us headed out bright and early to Squamish and drove up Mamquam & Garibaldi Park Roads to the Diamond Head Trail parking lot. We had a 4×4 with 2 set of chains and a 2wd truck with one set of chains – both made it up easily with no traction issues.
Blessed with recent dumps of fresh snow in late November, we put on our snowshoes right away. 1:15 later we were at Red Heather Shelter basking in the warm winter sun. The winter route to Paul Ridge was well-trodden and there were many groups of AT skiers – and only one snowshoe group – that we hiked past on the way up.
Countless photos and 3 hours later we started descending on to Elfin Lakes. Both lakes were solidly frozen – early by normal standards. There were easily 3-4 metres of snow at the shelter. Surprisinigly, only a couple of parties remained and it was fairly quiet inside. We lingered for an hour, soaking in the warm sun, and made our way back. Headlamps were used only for the last 45 minutes. And we treated ourselves to a great meal at the Shady Tree after, conjuring up next week’s adventure at the Musical Bumps.”
