Peak 412 (Squamish) - April 30 2025
Garibaldi NÊvÊ, Squamish, BC
412m
After failing to bag anything on the weekend having failed Mount Joffre, I was itching for something during the week to compensate. So, with the weather being nice, and it being my birthday, I decided to let myself out from work a little early, and go for a short trail run before heading down to meet my family for dinner. I had a good excuse, as my building is having some plumbing work done anyways, so I also needed to go and have a shower, so I may as well get sweaty first to get my time's worth out of driving for 50km to have it đ. So, I pulled one of my "secret p100s" I discovered by scouring maps and counting contours, and headed up to Alice Lake to knock it out.
This "peak" is just a forested bump SE of Alice Lake, but it does have 100m of prominence, so in my book, that counts! Conveniently, after my last injury this winter, my gait has actually improved a bit, and I can largely run without it being super awkward, so after sneaking a parking spot at the south-side lot, I brought just some poles (in case the descent merited them) and that's it, as this is a short hike on 99% trail.
The first bit of the route was to take the Four Lakes trail east to Edith Lake, where I'd then turn south to head up towards the peak. This gains about 100m in a kilometre, so it's decently steep as far as running goes. I did walk a couple short sections, but otherwise managed to jog it in about 9 minutes. Unfortunately, while this trail is supposed to be foot traffic only basically right to the end, I did encounter one biker on the way up. Thankfully it was in a fairly open section, so I was able to avoid a collision.
From there, I took a short trail that stayed a bit above the likely "main trail" on the lake's shore, and headed south to the next junction, which headed west towards Mike's Loop. That quickly forked again, and I took the climber's left fork, which follows the uphill track for the same trail (or perhaps is part of Of Mice and Men, my maps conflict a bit there), which offered both easy terrain (though a bit steep in one stretch), and theoretical conflict avoidance with downhill riders.
That trail lasted just a few minutes, but gained me 40 metres, and once it reconnected with its other half, got a lot flatter and wider, as it turns into the 2-way shared Of Mice and Men trail (or maybe was always that).
From there, I jogged for another 6 minutes or so along the gentle trail, which managed to gain me another 20 metres without really feeling like it, and covered just under a kilometre of distance in the process. Then, I was on the Value Added trail, which climbs up to basically the summit before becoming a pretty gnarly descent off the south side, apparently. I was only interested in the first half, though, which was conveniently the uphill side for bikes, so again, no conflicts.
The trail up was definitely more challenging than the blues I was on before, with more twists, dips, and steep sections that I have no idea how people are supposed to bike up đ . On foot, it took me 5â6 minutes to crank out ~750m and 30-40m of elevation to the top. The trail has a sign near the summit, but I had to walk through a few steps of mossy ground to get to the high point, which was rather plain, just the highest point in the forest, with no views or indicators of its significance (or perhaps indicating how much it lacks any).
Summit area views
I fumbled around the bush and took photos for about 2 minutes at the top, then started heading down, eager to get some amount of a workout from this otherwise trashbag of a day. I was able to avoid needing the poles, which was a good win for my bad leg's recovery and ability to handle terrain without assistance. The entire return took me ~20 minutes, sadly not a great pace for 3km, but I will blame the technicality of the terrain to save face đ. That and the fact that I am not a trail runner, and have consistently been forthcoming with how terrible at it I am. I can jog on flat ground alright, and I can hike just fine, but combining the two is something I have never really done with much success.
Overall, as a trash summit day goes, this was pretty good. I was car-to-car in 5o minutes, I managed to keep my heart rate averaging over 185 the whole time đ¤Ŗ, and I did technically get a summit. Can't be too mad at that. If you have the skills, you should totally MTB here, but if not, it's an effective small hike on a day when you can't do anything bigger for whatever reason. Always good to have some of those in your back pocket.