What Is The Black Tusk And Where Is It?
The famous “Black Tusk” is a stratovolcano just like Mount Rainier in Washington State. Unlike Mount Rainier, the “Black Tusk” is located in British Columbia, Canada. Within British Columbia, the “Black Tusk” is located within Garibaldi Provincial Park in Squamish, British Columbia.
The “Black Tusk” is along the trail to Panorama Ridge. From the start of the trail to the Panorama Ridge overlook, it is a climb of 1,563 meters from the parking lot at the start of the trail. In feet that is a 5,127 foot climb. A mile is 5,280 so the vertical climb to Panorama Ridge is 153 feet short of a mile straight up. The round trip distance to Panorama Ridge is 30km or 18.6 miles. This is a LONG STRENUOUS HIKE.
There is a campground, the Garibaldi Lake Campground a little less than halfway up to Panorama Ridge. The sensible and more relaxing way to do the Panorama Ridge hike is to spend the night at this campground and hike the rest of the way the second day. The campground has no services. There is no running or clean water, no electricity, nothing. You’ll need to bring water, a filter or plan to boil it to be perfectly safe.
If you wan to get photos of “Black Tusk” especially elevated photos like this one you have a long, strenuous hike in front of you!
What Is It Like To Travel To The “Black Tusk” At Garibaldi Provincial Park In British Columbia?
Garibaldi Provincial Park is located in British Columbia, Canada. Within BC, Garibaldi is located in the town of Squamish. It’s north of Vancouver and south of Whistler. If you are from the US you’ll need a passport or passport card to cross the border. The nearest airports to fly into include Seattle in the US and Vancouver in Canada. Whether by air or ground, the Canadian customs officials have always given me a hard time crossing the border at the Peace Arch land crossing and via air. When possible I always try to go to a more friendly port of entry but sometimes you just have to pick the closest one.
Chances are you’ll end up driving through Vancouver or renting a car there. It’s a cool city but very expensive and full of traffic. I try to spend as little time as possible actually in Vancouver and get on my way up toward Squamish. When going to Squamish, there are lots of places to stay. You’ll find hotels, hostels, campgrounds, cabins and all kinds of other places. Set your comfort level and match it to your budget. Most anything in Squamish will put you in a good location for exploring the provincial parks and other incredible natural sights in the area. This is true of Garibaldi where the “Black Tusk” is located.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Photo Of The Black Tusk?
Once you get to Squamish and get a place to stay, you’ll want to pick a day to head over to Garibaldi Provincial Park and do the hike to Panorama Ridge and “Black Tusk”. You’ll need to decide it you will make it a multi-day adventure and break up the nearly 1 mile vertical climb and more than 18.6 mile round trip hike or do it all in one day. I can’t stress enough, this is a long, sometimes steep, strenuous climb. You need to be in good shape and be prepared.
In order to get “A” photo of the “Black Tusk”, you’ll probably need to hike a bit more than halfway up. At that point you’ll likely be looking up the trail toward “Black Tusk” and it won’t be much of photo. If you wan to get a photo like the one highlighted in this article, you’ll need to hike almost all the way up to Panorama Ridge.
If you are not camping at the Garibaldi Lake Campground, you’ll want to start out as early as possible. That might be before sunrise and certainly no later than 10am at the very latest. Even with a 10am start, there is a very good chance you’ll be hiking partway back in the dark.
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing The Garibaldi Black Tusk?
When taking on a hike of this difficulty, the amount of weight you carry is very important It can potentially determine if you make it to the goal or not. During mid-day light, there is no special camera or camera gear needed to photograph the “Black Tusk”. If you are happy with cel phone shots that may be good for smaller prints and social media then you can probably just take your phone.
When embarking on a hike like this I typically take a fair amount of camera gear. A DSLR, multiple landscape lenses and a carbon fiber tripod. That would be my suggestion for this situation. Instead of a DSLR you might swap in a mirrorless camera and lenses as that would lighten your load significantly.
If you plan to hike all the way up to Panorama Ridge you might even want to take a panoramic setup with you to capture the dramatic landscapes that are all around that are larger than a standard single shot that a DSLR can capture. Of course going all the way to the top of Panorama Ridge and taking panoramic photo gear will make the hike longer and more challenging.
In an ideal world you’d have a full panoramic setup and be able to shoot single shots from a tripod for maximum flexibility. A decent point and shoot camera or newer cel phone would probably be enough to get photos for smaller prints and social media.
What Is The Story Behind This Garibaldi “Black Tusk” Wall Art Photo?
I got last minute invite to go to Squamish British Columbia back in 2014. Naturally I said yes. I’d never heard of Squamish but after I saw a few photos, how could I resist? The lodging for the trip was at the Tantalus Mountain Retreat. That place is absolutely amazing! If you ever go to Squamish and have the budget for it, go for it is there is availability! It’s probably going to cost more than most other places but if you are paying with US dollars, the exchange rate has been quite good for sometime now. It’s like getting a discount of up to 25% depending on daily currency fluctuations.
Once we checked in and were totally blow away by the place, the grounds surrounding it, the hot tub, and that it was all off-grid we set to work planning out hikes and photo opportunities to explore in the Squamish area. After a few days of easy lakes and waterfalls we decided to go tackle Panorama Ridge at Garibaldi Provincial Park.
We had absolutely no idea what were were getting ourselves into. We got to the trailhead around 9am and didn’t actually get out on the trail until about 9:30am, maybe even 10am. Fortunately we fueled up with a hearty breakfast. Eggs, bacon and some potatoes. Lots of protein and carbs for a long day.
We had some snacks, a fair amount of water and water filters and an extra sweatshirt along with our phones. I had a ton of camera gear in tow. There was a big Induro carbon tripod, a Canon 5D III, a 24-105 lens, a 17-40 lens, a hefty Nodal Ninja tripod head, a 50mm lens and a 70-200 II lens. That was a lot of photo gear but I usually carry a lot. Oh, there was a 2X extender in case there was any wildlife .
We didn’t have any electronic gizmo tracking out distance so had no idea how far we had gone at any given time. Nor did we know how far we had gone. The first long set of switchbacks was challenging but before too long we’d reached the Garibaldi Lake primitive campground where things flattened out. The backpack full of camera gear was starting to feel a bit heavy but it wasn’t too bad at that point.
Once you get pas the campground, the trail flattens out for a pretty long time. It has a grade to it but it is much more gentle than the initial switchbacks. There are some streams where you can get water to filter. There are some wildflowers. The hike mellows out for a while and turns into a more leisurely stroll.
That leisurely stroll lasts for a while and then the real climb begins. One the climb begins again, the real work sets in if you are doing this as a single day hike as was the case on this trip. Had I been hiking alone, there were many times I may have given up because the hike became brutal. I had a TON of camera gear on my back. Both my hiking partner and I were showing signs of severe exhaustion. Fortunately we had plenty of water and some snacks to refuel from time to time.
One of us would pull ahead while the other took a break. Whoever was a ahead would encourage the other to keep going. At times we both thought about going back. After our bodies took so much punishment we eventually agreed that we’d come to far to give up and became determined to get there no matter what. We had to get to Panorama Ridge to see the view. As we neared the top, the views of Black Tusk got better and better. There were numerous times we though the destination was right over the next ridge and of course it wasn’t.
It was much later than we would have like by the time we got to Panorama Ridge thanks to the touch hike and the later than ideal start. I was the second one up. The views from Panorama Ridge were absolutely stunning. Breathtaking as if there was any breath left after all that strenuous hiking. We lounged around and took photos for an hour at most and then started the trek back down, shooting more photos along the way.
As the sun was setting we approached a small fork to the shore of Garibaldi Lake. By that time I was ready to make a beeline back to the car but was convinced that we should swing by the lake shore and see the sights there too. We did, we snapped sunset photos from the edge of Garibaldi Lake that we had seen from Panorama Ridge.
With the light fading fast we hiked as fast as we could back to and through the Garibaldi Lake Campground and back toward the switchbacks that lead down to the parking lot. By this time, the sun had set. We moved as quickly as possible with the light from the flashlight apps on our cel phones casting just enough light on the trail so as not to fall and go tumbling down the trail.
By around 10pm, we safely made it back to the car completely exhausted. The hike to Panorama Ridge was one of, if not the most incredible hike I’d ever done. The views were on par with most any hike anywhere. The feeling of accomplishment when we realized just how far we’d hiked and how high we’d climbed was a high that lasted for a few days. We just couldn’t stop smiling though there was barely energy for that until we’d gotten back to the Tantalus View Retreat, hopped in the hot tub and had some real food and a few local beers. The photo prints available here from Black Tusk, Panorama Ridge and Garibaldi Lake Shore required some of the most strenuous hiking I’ve ever embarked on especially in one day.
In What Formats Is This Garibaldi Black Tusk Wall Art Print Available?
This and the other wall art prints of Black Tusk are available in sizes up to 40×60 inches. Though I had panoramic photo gear with me, I was simply too exhausted to unpack it and set it up when hiking up or down from Panorama Ridge. Prints are available on paper, canvas, acrylic, wood and metal. If you’d like to hang one in an area with bright exposed lighting or lots of direct natural light then a matte canvas or paper print would probably be best. If it will hang in an area with more diffused lighting then a vibrant metal, glossy canvas or paper print would work well. A metallic paper would work well too.
If you’d prefer something more along the lines of home decor then a shower curtain or a Sherpa Fleece may be a good choice. The prints will be a little softer but still look awesome on these textured items.
Shirts, cel phone cases and canvas tote bags can be great items to show of the scene around town. The canvas tote bags are super sturdy and make great grocery shopping bags.
If you’re up for a brain teaser, the 500 and 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles make great presents for someone else or even just for you!
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