Garibaldi Lake

Garibaldi Lake
Garibaldi Lake and the north face of Mount Garibaldi, looking south from Panorama Ridge at 6,900 ft (2,100 m).
Location	British Columbia
Coordinates	49°55′30″N 123°0′36″W / 49.92500°N 123.01000°W / 49.92500; -123.01000Coordinates: 49°55′30″N 123°0′36″W / 49.92500°N 123.01000°W / 49.92500; -123.01000
Primary inflows	Mimulus Creek, Sentinel Glacier, Sphinx Glacier
Primary outflows	Rubble Creek
Basin countries	Canada
Surface area	9.94 km² (2460 acres)
Average depth	119 m (390 ft)
Max. depth	258.7 m (849 ft)
Surface elevation	1,484 m (4,869 ft)
Islands	Battleship Islands
Settlements	No

Garibaldi Lake is a turquoise-coloured alpine lake in British Columbia, Canada, located 37 km (23 mi) north of Squamish and 19 km (12 mi) south of Whistler. The lake lies within Garibaldi Provincial Park, which features mountains, glaciers, trails, forests, flowers, meadows, waterfalls. The park is a wildlife protected area.

Garibaldi Lake lies in a deep subalpine basin, with its surface at nearly 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea level and a depth exceeding 250 m (800 ft). It is almost entirely surrounded by mountains except at its northwestern tip, with volcanoes along the north, west, and south sides and non-volcanic peaks along the northeast and eastern shores. Lava flows from the volcanoes of Mount Price and Clinker Peak to the south blocked the ancestral valley, damming the waters of the lake behind the lava formation known as The Barrier. This lava dam is over 300 m (1,000 ft) in thickness and about 2 km (1.2 mi) wide where it impounds the lake. A series of lava outcrops along the northwestern shore of the lake form the numerous tiny Battleship Islands, several of which have been connected to the shore by simple man-made stone causeways.

The turquoise colour of the lake's water is due to glacial flour suspended in the meltwater from its two primary inflows, the large Sphinx Glacier to the east and the Sentinel Glacier to the south on the flanks of Mount Garibaldi. Throughout most of the year, outflow from Garibaldi Lake occurs only via seepage through cracks in the lava dam, with Rubble Creek appearing from springs at the base of The Barrier. During spring snowmelt, outflow is sufficient for surface drainage to occur via a shallow channel across the lava flow, into Lesser Garibaldi Lake and Barrier Lake about 1.6 km (1 mi) west of the main lake's shore.