We decided to head up, embrace the nice weather and quench our thirst to 'stand on top of things'. The best place in the park to do so, Frosty Mountain peak, the highest point in the park. We chose the frosty mountain loop as our root rather than a hike at Garibaldi as Manning Park allows dog as long as the owners keep them on leashes.
We headed up on Monday morning and parked at the Lightning Lake day use parking lot and made our ascent up to the Frosty Campground. The camp was great, nestled in the woods the amenities were about 5-7 level tent areas, a pit toilet, and a bear food cache. The elevation of the camp is 1850m and the vertical from the parking lot to the camp is about 650m and took us about 3.5 hours.
The first full day we had was Tuesday and it would prove to be a day of amazing views and memories to take with me on my travels. We started in the morning with a great breakfast of porridge on my Vital Stove and started our ascent to the top of Mount Frosty. The hike is a scenic trail the switch backs up the mountainside into the larch meadows where it meanders through sub-alpine meadows and clearings.
The larch meadows are quite a spectacular sight and is a great place to see the Larches, which are a rare type of deciduous conifer. Meaning that they are a coniferous tree that looses its needles in the winter. It is supposed to be a spectacular sight in the fall as the needles turn gold. But it was hard to believe that this area of the mountain could possibly get any more beautiful, Annie and I both agreed that we could walk through the meadows for an eternity.
Once at the top we were blessed with probably the best view of anything I have ever experienced. The peak is about 2 km away from the US/Canada boarder and the peak offer a 360 degree view of the Cascades. Small coin lakes can be seen o the south of the mountain as well as beautiful green meadows. It was so inspiring being atop the mountain that we stayed for a few hours to eat and bask in the view and the sun.
We camped at the Frosty Camp again that night and continued the next day along the Frosty Loop trail toward the Windy Joe and Pacific Crest Trails. The hike along the East ridge of Frosty Mountain is quite windy and treacherous when descending. After about an hour you will find yourself in a surreal wood that has been long dead due to the forest fire. The while bones stand as a monument to the force of mother nature.
We camped the Wednesday night at the Pacific Crest campsite which contains the same amenities as the previous camp. Pit toilet, fire pit, and food cache. It was a lot busier of a camp as backpackers use the 6 month long trail often and we had some neighbors that evening. But the campsite does have some spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and was very refreshing to wake up at!
Thursday morning we made our trek back to the Lightning Lake parking lot and were already missing the back country. It was a deep experience and I am so glad i got to experience this before heading away from Canada and Cascadia for so long.
Keep your eyes pealed for my next blog post next week of another back country camping trip to Garibaldi Provincial Park.
W
