Beautiful day at Helm Creek, Whistler

I love this quote by John Muir, "The mountains are calling and I must go."

No matter what the season, weather, or type of adventure I definitely feel the pull to get out of the valley and into the mountains. There's some great fall hiking right now - perfect temps, no bugs, and that chilly breeze that tells you winter is headed to the alpine soon.

I did a nice day trip up from Cheakamus Lake into the meadow below the Black Tusk the other day. This trail is much less traveled than the Rubble Creek route up to this area. It's steeper, longer, more rugged and has 7km of potholes before the parking lot.

Starting out there's a beautiful forest around Cheakamus Lake, which gets even prettier as you ascend the steep side of the mountain across the Cheakamus River.

There are no dogs allowed in the park in this area, so I was by myself. I love being alone in the mountains. The peace that comes with moving through wild places on your own is something I have not found anywhere else.

After a stressful work week, being here on a beautiful day was just the right medicine.

Even though it wasn't a summit day, I had a lot of fun wandering around the meadows up here under the Black Tusk. I have a great memory of climbing the Tusk almost exactly one year ago with some friends, on another perfect fall weather day.

Looking across to Panorama Ridge, more great memories of climbing that one a few time also. On the other side of Panorama Ridge is Garibaldi Lake. The view from the top is unreal.

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings." - John Muir

I couldn't agree more.