Joffre Lakes Day Hike on July 8th, 2017

On July 9^th, Lianne Mcradu organized a wonderful trip to Joffre Lakes. Twelve amazing persons joined this trip. We departed very early, arrived at the parking lot about 8:30 am and started our hiking at 9:00 am. So many thanks to the volunteer drivers. They are very nice to take the tiresome work. It’s a more than 200 km driving in the early morning (some driver need to depart before 4:30 am >.<). While in the morning, there are a lot of bugs, especially mosquitos. So, if you also plan to travel here, I strongly recommend bringing a bug repellent! That day was a little cloudy. While I think it’s good, because it was not so hot or shining, and it also didn’t rain.

Three glacier-fed lakes are located in the park: Lower, Middle and Upper Joffre Lakes. The lower lake is pretty close to the parking lot. Just after about 10-minute walk without elevation gain, we arrived the first lake and took some pictures there.

                    The Lower Lake

Then, we went towards Middle Lake. The trail to Middle lake is a little more challenging because of the elevation gain. I started to feel tired and a little dizzy. Thanks to my friend, Kaining Xu. She gave me a chocolate bar which helped me recovered very soon. There is a waterfall located near the trail to Middle Lake. The route for this waterfall is not so obvious to find. But the beautiful view deserves a little try.

                     The Waterfall

                 The Middle Lake

At 11:00 am, we arrived the Upper Lake. The third lake is breathtaking because of its turquoise color. The mighty Matier Glacier is just beyond the Upper Lake, which makes the view even more spectacular. For this main trial, the distance is about 5 km and the elevation gain is about 370 meters. We just took only about 2 hours to get here. So, we had an early lunch around 11:00 – 11:30 am near this lake. Since the lake is partially fed from the glacier, its temperature is pretty low. But some brave souls in our group still went for a dip in the lake.

             One of the Brave Souls

                  The Upper Lake

After lunch, we decided to go all the way up to the Matier Glacier as the final part of this trip. We get a great view of the lakes from a ridge. Hiking to the glacier was the roughest part for me. I totally exhausted in the midway, but having the whole group waiting for me and inspiring me made me finally complete the trip. When I sat beside the Glacier, all the hard working was paid off. Having the spectacular views, enjoying the breeze with slight snow and feeling refreshed, this experience was so amazing.

On the way down, the trail was very crowded and there was no vacancy in parking lots. We were happy to have gone early to avoid this! We finished our hike around 3:00 pm, just like Lianne had estimated!!

I am a newbie for the outdoor activities. Even though I behaved clumsily and felt exhausted, I had definitely enjoyed this trip. In the group, people encouraged and took care of each other. This is an excellent trip! And I am so happy to meet these eleven awesome guys. They are Lianne Mcradu, Mariana Jarkova, Simon Holdsworth, Ainsley MacDougall, Aurelien Pelissier, Dyuman Das, Kaining Xu, Kevin Stiller, Tristan Calderbank, Yixing Dong and Joe O\’Brien.