Detailed Itinerary
Permits for Hiking to Black Tusk
During peak summer months, you’ll need either a day use permit to go up Black Tusk, or an overnight camping reservation for somewhere in Garibaldi Provincial Park. Without these, the park rangers will turn you away at the trailhead.
Day Use Permits: To book a day use permit, you can visit the BC Parks website. Usually you can book it a few days in advance, though the process seems to change each year since covid, so take a look what the current requirements are.
Overnight Camping Reservations: The camping is also managed by BC Parks, and you’ll find a link to the camping reservation system here.
Map of Garibalid Provincial Park
You can find the official BC Parks map for Garibaldi Provincial Park here, where you’ll clearly see Black Tusk north north west of Garibaldi Lake.
Day Hike Options
The main hike listed is the most popular route to Black Tusk, done from Rubble Creek Trailhead. It is also possible to hike the route from an alternative trailhead, listed below. Either way, this makes for a BIG day.
Black Tusk From Rubble Creek
If you intend to reach Black Tusk from Rubble Creek then your only real decision will be whether to take the more direct route up through Taylor Meadows, detour via Garibaldi Lake, or do one of each one the way up and down.
My recommendation would be to go up via Taylor Meadows, and take a break at the lake on your way down. With a little sun, you’ll have yourself a nice little post-summit dip. Don’t expect it to be warm though – this is an alpine lake after all.
Black Tusk Via Helm Creek
The Helm Creek route to Black Tusk starts at the Cheakamus Lake Road parking, is a few kilometers longer, but in my opinion is much more scenic. After crossing the river at the start, you’ll quickly head up a bunch of steeper switchbacks in the forest. As the gradient starts to ease, you’ll slowly emerge out of the forest. As you pass the Helm Creek Camp, the trees start to open up onto meadows, ponds, and valleys.
Black Tusk Point to Point with Car Shuttles
With a little logistics and some shuttling, it’s very possible to go up one route, and down the other. I would recommend your whole group travel in the same direction, meaning you’ll have to shuttle at the beginning or the end of the day. Leave one car at Rubble Creek, and one car at Cheakamus Lake Road Parking.
Camping Near Black Tusk
You have three options for camping, all of which require a reservation to be made in advance through the BC Parks booking website.
- Garibaldi Lake Campground is the most popular option to to its lakeside location. This large campsite has outhouses, tent pads, food hangers, and lunch shelter. Camping is patrolled by park staff every night. It is the most scenic of the three camps, and so it is pretty manic in the summer, with hoards of people coming up to the lake to film their latest Insta post.
- Taylor Meadows: Taylor Meadows is a lovely place to camp, is very spacious, has a little shelter and an outhouse. My sense is that this location acts as an overflow from Garibaldi Lake, or for those who want to avoid the crowds on their way up to Black Tusk or Panorama Ridge.
- Helm Creek Campground (Below): This final option is more relevant for people hiking up from the Cheakamus Lake Parking. Definitely the quietest of the three camps, Helm Creek is surrounded by a mix of trees and open views. The camp has tent pads and outhouses.
If you are camping, the other hugely popular peak that can easily be hiked in the same trip is Panorama Ridge. Check it out here.
Water Sources in Garibaldi Provincial Park
Officially, there are no clean water sources in Garibaldi Provincial Park. If camping overnight, you’ll either need to bring with you everything you need, or more realistically bring some kind of water filtering device. Look our for my recommendations on this soon.
Distances Between Black Tusk and Other POIs in Garibaldi Provincial Park
Planning a trip with multiple potential start points, objectives and camp grounds can make estimating distance tricky. I’ve pulled together this table of distances to help you do just that.
| Distances (Km) | RC | TM | GL | PR | BT | HC | CR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elevation (m) | 575 | 1500 | 1470 | 2070 | 2300 | 1550 | 850 |
| - | |||||||
| Rubble Creek (RC) | – | 6.8 | 8.8 | 13.0 | 11.5 | 15.4 | 23.6 |
| Taylor Meadows (TM) | 6.8 | – | 2.4 | 6.2 | 4.7 | 8.6 | 16.8 |
| Garibaldi Lake Camp (GL) | 8.8 | 2.4 | – | 6.7 | 5.2 | 9.1 | 17.2 |
| Panorama Ridge (PR) | 13.0 | 6.2 | 6.7 | – | 6.1 | 6.7 | 14.8 |
| Black Tusk (BT) | 11.5 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 6.1 | – | 8.5 | 16.7 |
| Helm Creek Camp (HC) | 15.4 | 8.6 | 9.1 | 6.7 | 8.5 | – | 8.1 |
| Cheakamus Lake Road (CR) | 23.6 | 16.8 | 17.2 | 14.8 | 16.7 | 8.1 | – |
| Dist (Km) | RC | TM | GL | PR | BT | HC | CR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elev (m) | 575 | 1500 | 1470 | 2070 | 2300 | 1550 | 850 |
| - | |||||||
| RC | – | 6.8 | 8.8 | 13.0 | 11.5 | 15.4 | 23.6 |
| TM | 6.8 | – | 2.4 | 6.2 | 4.7 | 8.6 | 16.8 |
| GL | 8.8 | 2.4 | – | 6.7 | 5.2 | 9.1 | 17.2 |
| PR | 13.0 | 6.2 | 6.7 | – | 6.1 | 6.7 | 14.8 |
| BT | 11.5 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 6.1 | – | 8.5 | 16.7 |
| HC | 15.4 | 8.6 | 9.1 | 6.7 | 8.5 | – | 8.1 |
| CR | 23.6 | 16.8 | 17.2 | 14.8 | 16.7 | 8.1 | – |
Bears in Garibaldi Provincial Park
When hiking in British Columbia, except in urban areas, you’re likely entering bear territory. It’s wise to carry bear spray, though personally, I’ve never had to use it. Remember, having bear spray doesn’t mean you should seek out bears. It’s better to make noise while hiking so that animals can hear you approaching and avoid you. Bears, especially, don’t like surprises.
In the more visited areas of Garibaldi Park, black bears are common. However, grizzlies also inhabit the park and, contrary to what some might think, they are sometimes seen. A couple of years ago, Ayelen and I were trekking through Taylor Meadows when we encountered the bear shown in the picture below. At that time, I assumed it was a black bear. But, when I later showed my photos to the head of the Grizzly Bear Foundation, he confirmed it was a Grizzly.
During that encounter, the bear was on the path and wasn’t moving. We chose to backtrack and head to the lake instead. Looking back, that seems to have been the smart choice!
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