Cinder Cone - October 22 2022
Garibaldi Névé, Squamish, British Columbia
1901m
After the drama that ensued when I posted last week's trip report for the Armchair Traverse, I decided to just head out solo where nobody could complain about our group dynamics! (actually the weather just finally got cold, and we got a dusting of snow with some more in the forecast, so all my friends were hiding inside). I actually slept in for once, so I needed a small objective, and Cinder Cone looked to be about that. A good amount of kilometres, but since those never really bothered me as much as elevation, with a mild amount of elevation, I figured I could do that, throw in Empetrum Peak for some efficiency, and a day would be made. And so, I woke up, had some breakfast, packed my bag, loaded the rough GPX I tossed together based on contour lines, and set out at a casual 9:45 from home (Squamish).
The drive up was rather uneventful, and the FSR very well maintained, any non-lowered vehicle should be able to get there. After a quick bathroom break, swapping shoes, and otherwise getting ready, I set out at 10:34 am. Quite the late start, especially for this time of year. The first 2km of the trail are pretty uneventful, starting out at 843m, maxing out at 880m, and going right back down to 828m once you turn off the Cheakamus Lake Trail and cross the bridge over the river of the same name. It was here I learned you are allowed to bike up to the bridge, and thought about whether or not I should've brought mine. My conclusion was "if you have a bike, and an easy way to load/unload it, perhaps, but it only took 17.5 non-tiring minutes, so not a big deal".
The next bit of trail was a bit harder than I expected given my experience with Rubble Creek/Garibaldi Lake, and how it's often seen as an equivalent choice to this one for approaching the popular Black Tusk and Panorama Ridge trails. However, I think this is a steeper trail in the next section, with the grade exceeding 20% average (definitely more in spots) over the next kilometre. It is definitely not "hard" or "a brutal uphill slog", don't get me wrong. But it was not the easy <15% I was expecting, and as such I went a bit too fast, and ended up needing a couple breathers. Once I gained a couple hundred metres, though, things had slowed down to the gradual uphill I was expecting, and I managed to keep my pace steady once again, and finally saw my first signs of life aside from people in the parking lot who were going to the lake (or didn't feel like talking, and I passed before knowing their goal).
I saw a pair of trail runners coming down probably around 1200m, who did not seem to care to ruin their trail time to talk (understandable), and another group of 2 heading to the campgrounds who didn't stop for long, but managed to at least communicate that much, and pose a guess at whose music I was playing (they guessed Dragonforce, but it was Trivium. Good taste either way, I'd say). It was around this point that we saw our first signs of snow (just a dusting in the shady parts of the mountain), and shortly after at around 1460m where I stopped to grab a picture of some water, as it was notably the first water I'd seen since shortly after leaving the river crossing.
I got my first views of, well, anything that wasn't forest about 10 minutes later, and at about 1:40 into the hike, I waltzed into the Helm Creek Campground. Interestingly, I saw a bag in the bear hang, but no tents. Hopefully that's not full of discarded food, and was pending retrieval. Since there wasn't really much for me to do, and I knew I was racing both sunset and the "maybe rain, maybe snow, maybe nothing" weather approaching, I continued on with little pause.
Basically exactly 2 hours in, I made it to the fork between the "Helm Glacier Trail" and the Helm Creek Trail. You can tell which is which in the picture below from which one gets air quotes.
Here, I finally took a meaningful break, slapping some gloves on as my hands weren't super-happy with me. I also took my first sips of water, and plugged my phone into my battery bank. Given the "aggressive bear" warnings, I was playing loud music the whole day. On big trails I usually go incognito, but given the low traffic and bear known to be aggressive that's eluded the park rangers for months, I didn't want to chance things. Plus music is fun!
After finally seeing Cinder Cone, I was a bit unimpressed with it's lack of of cone-like features (conicality? conicity?). I think Cinder Dome would be a bit more suitable, personally. Nevertheless, it is a peak, and therefore it must be bagged, so after a couple minutes of gear-changing, I set out on the much-less-beaten Helm Glacier Trail. For what it's worth, I wasn't planning to stay on it for long, and in about ten minutes, I split off making a more direct line toward Cinder Cone, as the trail leads too far east. On the plus side, the terrain at this point is fairly low on vegetation, so I didn't feel too bad about trampling on things as I went up.
Half an hour of easy trail-breaking past the junction, I made it up to 1775m or so, where I was treated with yet more views of Helm Peak, enough snow on it to make me feel justified in taking the hiking peaks for the day, and a view of the terrain I had left to tackle before the peak was mine.
Unfortunately, this was where the fun, easy hike stopped and the pain+regret started. Not because this was particularly long or technical, it was walking, and for less than 150m of gain before the top. No, the pain was because of how the first few steps were about twice the effort as normal because the dirt was so soft and sinky, and all the steps after were on uneven, loose rocks, not numerous enough to create steps in scree, but just enough to ensure most of your steps posed meaningful ankle-rolling opportunity. The regret was realizing if I waited as little as a week, snow cover would make this SO much easier.
Nevertheless, I carried on at a much slower pace for the next twenty minutes, until I got close enough to the "peak" indicator on my GPS that I could confirm it was definitely marking a lower point than I was on, with none after it. Probably a high-point before the last eruption, or something. For me, I'm happy to call where I was the summit, or possibly the initial ridge-cresting once I got off the rocky slope, it's hard to judge. I made it up in 2:50, though, so not a bad result IMO. The views and weather were still holding up well too, I was just warm enough with my baselayer top and bottoms with some softshell pants overtop, as long as I was moving.
After a photoshoot on the top, and donning my shell (the rest felt good, except for the cooling effect), I headed back to the ridge. Snapped a pic of what might've been a small pocket glacier at some point, and maybe even an old caldera.
The descent from the initial ridge was not the same as the ascent, as I was now heading over to Empetrum Peak, so I'll leave the details for that TR, as I'd recommend just retracing for a Cinder-only trip. I also recommend leaving it for snowier days. Given the gentle slope, it would be a decent candidate for introductory ski touring as well.