Joffre Lakes

Three lakes lie in a stepped valley below the Matier Glacier, and the walk visits them in order: Lower Joffre is a few minutes from the car park, Middle is about an hour up, and Upper sits at the head of the valley below the ice at around one thousand six hundred metres, about five kilometres and four hundred metres of climbing in. The colour comes from suspended glacial silt scattering light. The lakes are in Lil'wat and N'Quatqua territory, and the park now closes for periods each year at the nations' request for cultural use, alongside a booking system introduced because visitor numbers were damaging the site.

What you actually see

• The three lakes - each a stronger blue than the last up the valley.
• The Matier Glacier - ice hanging above the upper lake.
• The silt colour - glacial flour scattering light in the water.
• The log at Middle Lake - the much-photographed foreground on the shore.

When to go

July to September; snow blocks the upper trail into early summer and the lakes freeze in winter. The park closes entirely for some weeks each year for Indigenous cultural use, so check dates.

Honest expectations

A free day-use pass must be booked online and they go quickly. Closures for cultural use are announced and enforced. The trail is rocky and rooted, and busier than the photographs suggest.

Nearby

Pemberton lies west; Whistler is beyond it.