There are 3 few variations on this trail. Which one you take will depend on your mode of transportation. The mountain bike trail follows an old jeep road as far as the Elfin Lakes Shelter (Bikes are not allowed beyond this point) The hiking trail goes through the forest, generally parallel to the mountain bike route. Finally, a ski trail follows the first part of the old jeep road (shared with mountain bike trail), but then goes along the ridge crest to avoid avalanche terrain. The ski trail is marked with orange wands in winter that are maintained by the park rangers.

Markings: Orange snow wands in winter

How to Find: From squamish, head east on Mamquam road. It is well signed to the Garibaldi Park Diamond Head parking lot. The trailhead is the east end of the parking lot.

How to Follow: From the Diamond Head parking lot, ski, bike or hike up the trail for 5km to the Red Heather Hut at GR973123 (1450m). Just before the hut, there is a winter shortcut through open trees that avoids the final switchback of the road. (use skins). Above Red Heather, the winter route is marked by orange wands placed by the park rangers, usually starting mid December. The wands are about 30m apart and make navigating the crest of Paul Ridge easy in even the poorest conditions. The wands lead you up through the meadows towards the high point of Paul Ridge known as Round Mountain. Traverse through the forest around south side of Paul Ridge to avoid open avalanche terrain to the north. There is good yo-yo skiing on the northwest side of the ridge (the runs are short), but you should be prepared for avalanche terrain. The regular, marked winter route itself presents very little avalanche danger. In early season, people often bypass the longer winter route by following the road (the "summer" bike route). Both routes join on the ridge at a point beyond Round Mountain and continue to Elfin Shelter.

Beyond Elfin shelter, an old road continues down into Ring Creek. This is the start of the famed Garibaldi Neve traverse. Part way up Ring creek is a branch of the trail that goes over the ridge past Cinder Cone to Mamquam Lake. The bridge over ring creek on this trail is removed every winter so it does not get crushed by snow

History: The road (which is now a trail) was orginally built in the 1930's to access the old lodge at Elfin Lakes and beyond. This road was closed to traffic in the 1970's, at the time the new Elfin Shelter was built.

Bulletins
2010.02.16 Andrew Wong - Fresh snow above Red Heather: Skiable from trailhead. No open ditches although there are one or two thin spots just past the first switchback where the trail gets lots of sun. About 20cm of fresh snow starting at Red Heather. Good for snowballs and not too sticky despite warm temperatures. Ahead of me, four snowshoers broke trail all the way to Elfin shelter today, so it was fairly easy going. *1
2010.02.09 Andrew Wong - Current conditions below Red Heather: Continuous, hardpacked snow starts at trailhead (although predicted rain for the next few days can't possibly help). A minute or two past the first switchback, watch for a barely submerged rock in the middle of the trail. Surrounding forest is devoid of snow for first 2.5-3km--it's spring! Good ski conditions above Red Heather, about 15-20cm of light snow on a firm base on most aspects that weren't getting full afternoon sun. *1
2009.12.09 Steve Grant - Diamond Head Lodge Removed: The original Diamond Head Lodge, which was in a state of collapse, was removed this summer. A pity that our culture lacks the interest to preserve such a building. As perhaps a reflection of that culture, windows and timbers from the old lodge were used in the fancy new outhouse. *1
2009.12.06 Steven Phillips - Snow very consolidated after rain.: Road is bare to the parking lot, but snow starts right at the trailhead. Trail on the "jeep road" to Red Heather was very hardpacked even on Saturday morning before the crowds. Snowshoes were unnecessary to Red Heather, as we only "post-holed" once each. But it was a little slippery in boots so poles helped. The orange snow poles actually start below Red Heather this year, where they diverge from the jeep trail, so follow once you see them on your left if you want a shortcut to the hut; where the firewood looks well stocked. There is still lots of snow everywhere but a week of warmer temps and apparently rain have made for very hard crusty snow. I do not enjoy skiing myself but the skiers up there were not impressed with the snow conditions. I'm concerend that any fresh snow on top of that rain crust will pose worse than normal avalanche hazard later in the season. But that's just my ameture opinion. Trail was well cut to Elfin Selter by the end of the weekend as there was quite the crowd there Saturday night. The weather was beautiful. Clear skies, -10C daytime, -15C nighttime, High winds Sat night and Sunday. Don't know if this is news to anyone but at Elfin Shelter there is a new (to me) thermostat regulated propane furnace that apparently keeps it around 20C when on and thus avoids spikes and dips in the temp. Although we tented and therefore did not experience its effectiveness. There's also a new (to me) 4 stall outhouse with impressive views. We saw about 45 people, about 60% male, and mostly daytrippers. Hope this helps. *1
2009.11.22 Scott Nelson - Maker poles up, lots of snow: About a 60cm packed base on the trail at the parking lot. The park rangers set the marker poles on the winter route between Red Heather and Elfin on Friday, November 20th. 2.5m of snow above red heather (1500m) and 3.2m at the Elfin Hut where we did a snow profile on a steep roll. Trail breaking was surprisingly easy given the amount of recent new snow, with ski penetration around 30cm up high. Good skiing, but getting warm and heavy by the end of the day on Sunday. *1
2009.03.01 Joyce Shen - LOST Sony Silver camera ( Sunday,between Red Heather Hut and parking lot): Lost Sony Silver camera with a brown leather camera case. There are pics that I took from Nepal. Please contact Joyce at juecui23@interchange.ubc.ca . Many thanks! *1
2009.02.15 Andrew Wong - Good snow to Elfin Shelter: Trail conditions are great--route is packed snow with styrofoam-like firmness until Red Heather shelter, not the feared crusty ice I expected. Didn't really need snowshoes at all if you stayed on the main trail. From Red Heather to Elfin, expect packed snow but again, no encounters with crusty ice. If venturing off route, there is some surface melt crust along the south side of Paul Ridge, but everywhere else it's good powder conditions. *1
2008.12.08 Antje Wahl - Not much snow: Ice, slush on rocks on the lower half of the trail to Red Heather. About 20-35cm of snow on top of ice at Red Heather and Elfin Lakes. Good skiing if rocky and treed slopes are avoided. According to the Parks Ranger the winter route should be set this weekend (Dec 13-14). *1
2008.07.09 Mike Huang - Still cover by snow: (Photo) From the red heather camp up to the lake, the trail still covered by snow, half of the trail have to follow the orage wand of the winter route to Elfin lake. The lake is half frozen. *3
2008.02.24 Andrew Wong - Bullet proof from trailhead to Red Heather Hut: From the trailhead, route was hard packed & bullet proof to Red Heather Hut in the morning. Still pretty firm when coming back at 3pm. Above Red Heather, the snow had a 1cm breakable crust in the meadows. No powder to be seen anywhere. Lots of tree bombs came down last week during the melt, glad I wasn't on the trail then--some are gigantic! *1
2007.11.28 Andrew Wong - Winter route to Elfin marked by BC Parks: From the BC Parks website: the winter route between Red Heather Shelter and Elfin Lakes was marked on November 26. Follow those orange plastic poles... *1
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