619-822-3296 
We left the library in Pemberton bright and early especially since the sprinklers went off and woke us up at 4 a.m.! The joys of camping for free! It was a good thing because the road to Joffre lakes was crazy. There was a super big hill that we had to climb so it took a little while to get there even though it was not that far. We have noticed that the roads in B.C. are either up or down and they are steep either way!
We got to the trailhead a little after 6 a.m. and there were already cars in the parking lot. We learned later that most of them were backpackers that spent the night in the campground after Lake 3.
Mommy and I were one of the first day hikers on the trail. It was awesome having the trail to ourselves. The only bad part was it was very shadowed so the pictures didn’t do it justice. The trail was a really nice one. It was smooth but it had a lot of crazy challenges like roots…
and steps…
And mommy’s favorite, stairs…
There were a few bridges to cross over and we even saw a bear….
The first lake was really pretty and if you only have time to do one, it is only 5 minutes from the parking lot and worth the walk. We even saw a guy pushing a stroller on it when we were on our way back.
But of course we kept going to Lake #2. It was amazing. The lakes are so blue and they really weren’t that cold because of course I had to take a little dip!
We kept going to the Lake #3. The trail got really steep with more challenges but nothing that we couldn’t handle!
Lake #3 was insane! It was really big and really blue with a little island on it. We actually walked right past the place where people look at it and went straight to the campground on the other side of it. That is when it REALLY got crazy. The trail was super rocky the entire way to the campground. It was full of rocks and roots!
It was crazy that there was an outhouse near each lake and the campground. It had this sign which mommy thought was interesting.
The campground was pretty cool. Just an enormous amount of rocks with little clearings that were big enough for a tent. The little clearings went from the lake (people who got those spots scored!) to all of the way up the mountain. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the tents…..
That was not good enough for mommy. She had to keep going because somebody told her if you hiked up the “trail” you could see all three lakes. We had all day so why not? Because of my arthritic feet, she was a good mommy and carried me over a lot of the rocks on the entire hike. She was happy to get an upper and lower body workout!
As you can see from the “trail” behind me, it was some hike and we weren’t even at the top yet!
We kept going until we saw the glacier! That was a bonus! We didn’t even know that we would be near it! The cool part was there was a couple that came up after us so we had someone to take our picture!
The glacier was so big! Can you see me in the picture?
And it was really slippery! I slid down it like a sliding board!
The glacier up higher was really cool and mommy wanted to go up there but she was worried about my feet and carrying me over all of the big rocks both coming and going. So we didn’t go…
But there was a little waterfall that I got to play in and that made me happy. It was really cold!
The water helped the pretty flowers to bloom..
We hung out up there for a bit hoping the sun would come out from behind the mountain, but it never did! We were cold so we headed back down.
The way down was really fun. Mommy kept sliding cause it was so steep. Good thing she doesn’t have bad knees because this was definitely a leg burner!
We kept losing the trail and we ended up in the wetland by the waterfall. That made me happy!
The waterfalls were huge coming down the mountain…
They flowed right into the lake and that is why Lake #3 was REALLY cold! Check out mommy’s video of the area. You will not be disappointed….
We could not believe how many people were sitting on the other side of the lake now that is was later in the day. We heard that this hike got crowded and that is why we made sure to leave early but it was REALLY crowded!
We headed back the same way we came up but the trail was full of people. We stopped a few times to take photos since the sun was out now but it was more fun going up when we didn’t have to wait for people and had the trail to ourselves.
Some people were playing their music loud and others were carrying big bags of groceries like it was a day at the park. Mommy picked up trash the entire hike so she wanted to ask those people to please carry their trash out when they leave. It makes her sad when people leave their trash on the trails.
It was an EPIC day. The hike ended up being exactly 9 miles and we were gone for 7 hours. But we would not go by mileage alone as that rocky section was really steep! Both parking lots were full, both sides of the road as far as you can see and the parking lots that were 1/2 mile away on either direction were all FULL when we got back so go early if you go especially on a weekend / holiday.
It was worth it! I was a tired boy after that and I got to rest while mommy drove to our next campsite!
Thanks for reading. We hope that you got a taste of what awesomeness Canada has! Our next campsite was really cool so stay tuned for more…..
