Hiking Empetrum Peak & Cinder Cone in Garibaldi Park
Contents
Empetrum Peak & Cinder Cone Hike Information
Difficulty: Difficult
Distance: 32.1Km
Elevation Gain: 1,580m
Highest Elevation: 1,985m
Average Gradient: 9.84%
Effort/Reward Ratio: High / High
Time Needed:
– Slow: 12 – 15 Hours
– Moderate: 10 – 12 Hours
– Fast: 9 – 10 Hours
Dogs Permitted?: No
Season: ~July – October
4×4 / High Clearance Required? No
Scrambling / Exposure: No real scrambling or exposure of note, just one difficult creek crossing
Empetrum Peak & Cinder Cone Trail
Trailhead Coordinates: 50°02’31.1″N 122°59’22.5″W
Empetrum Peak & Cinder Cone Overview
Empetrum Peak and Cinder Cone are a pair of summits in Garibaldi Provincial Park that essentially go unnoticed, overshadowed entirely by Panorama Ridge, the Black Tusk and Garibaldi Lake.
That being said, if you want an off the beaten path hike away from the crowds, I strongly encourage you to check out this pair of summits in Garibaldi. While you will be route finding for portions of this hike as there are no official trails after you leave the Helm Creek trail, this makes for all the more fun adventure. It’s a pretty easy route to follow with no scrambling or risky exposure.
Beginning at the Cheakamus Lake trailhead rather than Rubble Creek, this is also a much nicer approach than that of the relentless switchbacks everyone else will be facing at Rubble Creek. While the distance and elevation gain is high, the average gradient isn’t too steep and most of the hike is on a well maintained trail so you can move fairly quickly. Optionally you can camp overnight at Helm Creek and make this a two day hike, though it’s more than possible to hike this in one day.
The biggest selling point of this hike is the views you get of the Black Tusk, particularly on the way up to Empetrum Peak but throughout the entire time you’re in the Helm Creek area. This is one of the most unique views of the Black Tusk you will find. Cinder Cone, on the other hand, is a volcanic cone made up of pyroclastic rock with a small crater in the center. You can walk around the whole crater, taking in the views from the top.
One word of warning though before you jump on this hike, there is a difficult creek crossing you will have to figure out as you will need to cross Helm Creek, which is wide with few crossing points. Other than that though this is a great adventure into the backcountry of Garibaldi Provincial Park, providing unique and exceptional views without any crowds whatsoever.
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Is Empetrum Peak & Cinder Cone worthwhile?
If, like me, you love Garibaldi Provincial Park but are sick of repeating the hikes up Panorama Ridge, the Black Tusk and Garibaldi Lake, this is an excellent hike to mix it up. The views of the Black Tusk are like no other, and the views from the summit of Empetrum Peak are exceptional in their own right. Cinder Cone is less exciting but does offer views of Helm Peak and Helm Glacier and since you are so close you may as well throw this in, but you can always skip it if you choose to make this a little easier.
How difficult is the hike to Empetrum Peak & Cinder Cone?
There’s no two ways about it, this is a long hike, one of the longest I’ve done in fact. Thankfully the gradient isn’t too bad so you can usually keep a decent pace, but still even if you’re fast this is a good 9+ hour day. I wouldn’t recommend anybody who considers themselves slow to attempt this unless you camp at Helm Creek and spread it over a couple of days.
Technically speaking the hike is straightforward other than the difficult creek crossing. I had to use microspikes jumping from stone to stone to get across, but there’ every chance you may need to take your boots off and wade through. The gradient up to Cinder Cone also gets very steep but again it’s manageable and not technical. You are never overly exposed or required to use hands on this hike.
As noted you will be required to route find as there is no trail once you leave the Helm Creek trail, but with a downloaded GPS map it’s not difficult.
Empetrum Peak & Cinder Cone Route Information
In terms of getting to the trailhead, the road to the Cheakamus Lake trailhead is a little rough but manageable for a 2WD if you’re careful, it’s mostly just potholes that you need to avoid.
The first 2km of the trail is a mellow forest stroll with little elevation gain. After 2km you will reach a junction where going straight continues to Cheakamus Lake and going right leads to Helm Creek, which is where we are going. You will descend towards the river and cross a sturdy bridge over the Cheakamus River.
Immediately after this bridge is actually one of the hardest parts of the day. You’ll be following some switchbacks (not as many as Rubble Creek!) as you climb and climb on the Helm Creek trail. This bit is really steep and really tiring, especially if you’re carrying a heavy load like I was, but just take your time and catch your breath whenever. Fortunately it doesn’t last too long as after around 1km you will be done with the switchbacks and the gradient will ease off quite a bit.
Continuing in the forest you will still be climbing but now at a more manageable gradient. The trail was covered in icicles when I went at the end of fall but it should be well maintained and you can likely go at a good clip around here. There’s not a whole lot to see but the forest walk is much more interesting than the Rubble Creek one, with some nice meandering and undulating terrain.
The trail will continue like this for several kilometers but it’s easy to follow so just keep going, the faster the better. You’ll pass some nice viewpoints of Helm Creek (especially if it’s snowy) and soon enough you will break out onto the Helm Creek meadows, where you will immediately be greeted by the omnipresent Black Tusk. This initial view is special, but it only gets better here on out.
Continuing on the Helm Creek trail you will walk through the Helm Creek Campground at around the 8.5km mark. If you’re camping, obviously stop here, but it’s also a good place for a rest for any day hikers.
The trail will now be a little narrow and will follow a stream, crossing multiple other small streams in the process. These were all frozen when I went. After around 11km you need to start paying attention to your map as this is where you will go off trail. To your right you should notice a couple of lakes, you’ll want to go around these, heading towards Helm Creek. Black Tusk will now be on full display and you should notice a gap between the Black Tusk and another hill. You’ll want to aim for this gap and the hill to the right of Black Tusk is the hill you’ll be ascending to the Empetrum Peak ridge line.
Now then, once you reach Helm Creek this is where you kind of have to figure out a way across yourself. I had to walk up and down the creek for some time before finding a viable spot to cross, and this was a very sketchy viable spot. I actually think the best way to cross is to just take off your hiking shoes/socks and wade through, though I wasn’t going to do this in snow.
Once on the other side of the river it’s pretty smooth sailing as long as you have a map downloaded. Follow the trail on your map towards the base of the hill going up to Empetrum Peak. This’ll be pretty easy going up to the base and from there you’ll head right going up the now steep hill. This was a little rough in snow but should be easier without it. You’ll ascend around 150m over 800m distance, which is pretty steep but relatively short, to the ridgeline leading to Empetrum Peak. The views of Black Tusk up this ascent are immense and peculiarly, ahem, phallic. Once at the ridgeline you get amazing views to the east and west which only get better the more you progress.
The ridgeline is a pleasant wander now rather than a steep ascent. You do still climb somewhat but combined with the incredible views you won’t feel it. This ridgeline is around 1.5km so it’s by no means short but the whole way is pleasant. There is still no trail to follow but it’s obvious where to go, straight ahead. Route finding should be easy and there should never be a time you feel uncomfortable with heights or exposure. Soon enough you’ll reach the peak, marked by a large cairn at the summit. The views are amazing, but they have been for the past 1.5km or so, so it might not feel much “better”.
After a brief rest (you don’t get long on such a time consuming hike!) it’s time to head back the way you came, descending Empetrum Peak ridge and crossing back over Helm Creek, heading towards where you left the Helm Creek trail. Back at the Helm Creek trail you will not be rejoining it, you will now simply cross over it and start ascending the steep hill on the other side, opposite Empetrum Peak. This will be Cinder Cone but again, look at your GPS map to make sure you’re on the right path.
The ascent up to Cinder Cone will be very steep but much shorter than that up Empetrum Peak, and you basically just go straight up. By now you’ll probably be pretty exhausted but don’t fret it’s not long, adding Cinder Cone only adds a total of 2.5km to this hike so you may as well do it now. When I went, all of the pyroclastic rock was covered in snow, which I suspect made the ascent much easier. Otherwise if you go in the summer it’ll likely be loose scree, which is difficult to ascend based on the gradient. Soon enough though the steep grind up Cinder Cone will be over and at the top you can loop around the cone in either direction. At the southern tip of the cone you will have some nice views over Helm Glacier and also of Helm Peak. Looping back around the other side of the cone your stay at the top is pretty brief and you simply head back down the way you came, back to the Helm Creek trail.
At Helm Creek trail the fun is over. It’s time for a long walk back to the car and I won’t lie it’s pretty painful after having hiked 20km already. For me it was time to get a move on as the daylight hours were fairly short when I did this hike. It’s around 11km back to the car, which will take most people around 2.5 – 3 hours alone. After a fairly full day of hiking this is pretty rough but at least it’s all downhill.
When should I hike Empetrum Peak & Cinder Cone?
I quite liked going at the beginning of the snow season before snowshoes are necessary. Snow really adds to the allure of most hikes for me and this was no different. I wouldn’t want to do this in deep snow but a light dusting was really nice. If that’s what you want you’ll probably want to go at the end of October. If you want no snow, as usual the best time to go is July – early October.
Top Tip
If you want to make this a bit easier of a hike you can probably skip out on Cinder Cone, reducing the hike by around 2.5km and 200m elevation. The views from Cinder Cone aren’t anywhere near as good as those from Empetrum Peak, but I felt I might as well do it now as I wouldn’t go back and do it on its own. Don’t get me wrong the views are still great, just not as good as Empetrum Peak.
For the creek crossing, if going with any chance of ice or snow you definitely want microspikes. I had to jump from icy rock to icy rock, which was only possible with traction. You may want to plan for the possibility of wading through the creek.
Obviously due to the length of this hike you need to be careful with timing. Make sure to start early and leave plenty of time for sunset. Bring a headlamp for sure.
Finally, it goes without saying you need an offline map with the route tracked, which you can download above in the GPX file and upload to any navigation device.
