Joffre Lakes – Pemberton, BC

Joffre Lakes is one of those infamous hikes that everyone and their dog has done (If you live on the West coast of BC anyways) and while part of me has always wanted to do it, the large crowds and long drive were definitely off-putting. If you do choose to do this hike on a nice summer day, especially on a weekend, be prepared to wake up extra early in order to find parking. The drive itself is certainly long, especially given the fact the hike itself is only 10km round trip, and the trail is not very technical. While Joffre Lake is rated intermediate on most hiking sites, I’d argue it is more towards the beginner level. With less than 400m of elevation gain spread out nicely along the trail, it does not pose too much of a challenge and is relatively pet and family friendly.

Due to the lengthy drive and short trail we decided it would be fun to turn this hike into an overnight trip — to get a little bit more out of the adventure. I am really glad we did this because the camp sites along Upper Joffre Lake are beautiful! We ended up leaving on a Friday night after work and camped along Rethel Creek, which is just north of Whistler. We have stayed here before and there are no specific sites, just plenty of spots to park your car and set up a tent (The Sea to Sky highway has a handful of service roads which can function as non-reserve campsites under their “leave no trace” policies). We chose to split the drive up over Friday night and Saturday morning to ensure that we could arrive at the Joffre Lake trailhead early the next morning, avoiding the majority of the crowd.

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The Joffre Lakes hike is composed of 3 lakes: Lower, Middle and Upper Joffre Lakes. The lower lake is at the base of the hike before your climb begins. Middle and Upper Joffre Lakes are spread somewhat evenly along about 5km of trail. At the middle lake you’ll come across the ever so famous log, which stretches out towards the center of the lake. You know, the one that you’ve probably seen on Instagram over a dozen times. On our way up it was quite overcast and foggy so we did not spend very much time at the middle lake to take pictures. In hindsight maybe we should have because coming down the next day there was a 20 person lineup to take pictures on the log (yikes!). Instead we just continued on our way to upper lake where the camping sites are.

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When you arrive at Upper Joffre Lake there is a fairly large area where many of the day hikers choose to stay, overlooking the lake and the large Matier Glacier behind it. If you continue along the trail towards your right it takes you to the far end of the lake below the glacier, where there are tent pads for overnight hiking (you need a reservation ahead of time in order to camp overnight at the lake). Anyone who has camped at Joffre Lake before knows that there is one site in particular, which sits by itself on a peninsula towards the end of the trail. While all of the sites offer great views, the peninsula site is one of a kind and being the first campers to arrive that morning we lucked out and were able to pitch our tent there for the night.

Once we set up our tent and relaxed for a while, we decided to explore a bit more of our surroundings. While there is no marked trail beyond the campsites you are able to scramble up along the rocks towards the Matier Glacier. Trust me, the higher you get, the more astonishing the view.

My one regret is that we did not climb higher than we were in the photo above. I had not previously read up about what lays beyond Upper Joffre Lake so I did not think much of the people whom were making the steep trek upwards. However, I later learned that if you do go high enough you are actually able to see all three lakes and there are two different glaciers which can be reached if you chose. One of those is the Matier Glacier which can be seen set behind each of the three lakes.

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After exploring a little bit we watched the sunset from a spot above our campsite before heading back down to relax. Despite the very foggy morning to start the day, we really lucked out with the weather. By the early afternoon the sun had come out and after it had set set there was hardly a single cloud in the sky. One thing I can never get enough of when camping in the mountains is looking at the stars. The night sky is speckle with stars when you are so far from city lights. Due to the lack of clouds we took a leap of faith and decided to sleep with our tent fly off. We wanted to enjoy the stars all night long, and it was absolutely magical. I have never felt more at peace than I did in that moment.

The next morning we woke up to a beautiful sunny, had breakfast, let our gear air out, and then headed back down to our car for the long drive home.

Lowlight of the trip: Unknown to us that weekend was the Whistler Iron Man competition and so the Sea to Sky highway was closed for multiple hours that afternoon. Unfortunately, the closures happened to be at the same time we chose to drive home, so we ended up having to make an unplanned pit stop in Whistler for an hour. It was not the most ideal ending to our weekend getaway, as we were sweaty, tired and just wanted to get home, but what can you do. I am definitely coming back to do this hike again, but next time I hope to turn it into a multi-day trip, to be able to summit some of the surrounding glaciers and mountains within the provincial park .

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Must Know:

Distance: 10km round-trip
Elevation: 490m
Accessibility: 2WD accessible paved road, during peak season “Joffre Bus” runs from Vancouver and Whistler (currently park is closed and bus is not operating due to COVID-19)
Water Availability: Some stream crossings along route + 3 lakes (campsite sits along Upper Joffre Lake)
Food storage: Bear cache provided
Facilities: Outhouse pit toilet
Reservation Needed: BC Parks day pass reservation currently needed for any day hiking (as of July 2020) due to COVID, reservation always needed for backcountry camping