Guest Blog – Elfin Lakes LEAD Trip

Big thanks to grade 8 student Hudson for providing this guest blog post:

The Elfin Lakes LEAD trip was an incredible experience for our grade 8 class. So much happened, it’s hard to believe it was only three days.

The weather was absolutely perfect for our hike into the campsite on the first day. With our full packs, the climb into Garibaldi Provincial Park was challenging, but the views were stunning. We stopped for lunch at the Red Heather Hut, which was a very welcome break. Food tastes so good on a hike! Thankfully the good weather continued for setting up camp, and we went to bed dry and warm.

We woke up to rain, but we still had a great day. Our class split up into two groups: a group that would hike to the Gargoyles; and a group that would hike to Ring Creek. The Gargoyles hike was difficult, especially because the rain was coming down on us hard and was flooding the trails. It was like a fun little puzzle figuring out how to navigate around the waterflow. At the top, we stopped for a moment to enjoy the clouds and fog, which felt mystical. This hike was definitely a highlight of the trip.

After the day’s torrential rain, we enjoyed a nice evening in the Elfin Lakes Shelter, which had become our main base of operations and our savior from the weather. Everyone celebrated the final night of the trip by engaging in fun activities and games led by the teachers. We enjoyed card games with Ms. Chambers, made cool bracelets with Ms.
Ribas, competed in intense rounds of trivia with Mr. I, and played more games for candy with Ms. Fendrick. We were super grateful to be able to sleep in the shelter and dry our clothes that night, as all of our equipment and tents were soaked from the day’s rain.

I would like to shout out all of the teachers and our rockstar guide Matt for making this trip possible and for helping us sort out any problems we had along the way. Thanks to the parents who shuttled us, and a special thank-you to the parent who brought Timbits for everyone, that was a really nice thing to do.

In conclusion, this trip was a great way to start the 8th grade year, and really got my classmates and me looking forward to future LEAD trips.

Here are some photos from our trip, enjoy!