Just Another Mountain

Trail Stats

Distance: 5 KM (out-and-back to Elfin Lake)

Elevation: 350m

Time: 1-2 hours

Garibaldi Provincial Park is filled with such incredible beauty from snow-capped mountains, to more rugged rocky peaks, to alpine meadows and glacial lakes. Elfin Lakes was a hike that immediately jumped to the top of my all-time favourites list due to the landscape. You can read more about the hike to Elfin and camping in the hut here: https://justanothermountain.com/2025/08/29/elfin-lakes/

We decided to undertake the short hike to the Saddle and then summit the Gargoyles early in the morning after a rough night’s sleep in the Elfin hut. There’s a sign near the hut that points you in the direction of the Saddle, marked as a 1.5km hike. It was the longest 1.5km of my life 😅

If you’re sitting on the porch of the hut, you can see two mountains to your right. It appears rocky and steep and I can confirm it is just that. The Gargoyles is on the right and Columnar Peak is the left. The reason we choose the Gargoyles is simply because I saw a video of someone doing it! You could do both if you were feeling up to it, as the climb to the Saddle was the toughest part for me.

While the trail to Elfin was a standard hike on even terrain and a clear path, this is more of a challenge due to uneven loose gravel and rocks and the steepness is relentless. There is also no shade which is why we opted to do it early, but it was still extremely hot.

The view from the Saddle is cool as you are closer to Diamond peak, but you need to summit one of the peaks because just when you think you’ve seen it all, even more beauty follows! It is steep and sandy with lots of loose rocks, so you just need to take your time and be conscious of where you’re stepping.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Like always, they don’t even do it justice but they’ll give you some insight into the beauty you could witness with your own eyes: