This is an epic hike on its own, but having a crazy hail/lightening storm start while your at the top definitely makes it my most epic hike thus far. I will share with you our story:

We started this hike sometime around 5PM and made it up to Taylor Meadows by dark to camp. You could either camp at Lake Garibaldi or Taylor Meadows, but the meadows are slightly more direct en route to the Tusk. It is about 6 miles up to the Meadows, and DAMN are they beautiful! The campsite has two shelters to cook in, bear poles, tent pads, and plentiful water, so it is pretty luxurious. You will be surrounded in wildflowers (late July-August) and get a pretty good view of the tusk itself.

The next morning, you wake up and walk through the meadows which is more or less flat, and you will be in awe of the peaks of the Coast Mountains unveiling themselves. I have been a few times and it seems to get better every time. From there you will follow the signs up towards the tusk. As you rise out of the meadows the trail will become more rocky, but stick to the trail so you don’t get stuck in any sketchy scree sections (learn from my mistakes!). When you get to the base you will then transverse across the rocks (see the last photo) to the chimney. The chimney is very doable, but beware of loose rock, and maybe bring a helmet.

When we reached the chimney, in an instant clouds covered the blue sky and a storm began. It was extremely unexpected and we were happy to have our raincoats! Large pieces of hail began to pelt our exposed skin and we had to make a decision. People coming down told us to turn around, which was definitely the smart thing to do. We had travelled from Seattle and were moments away from being on top and we are a little dumb so we decided to finish up. We got up to the top, dodging loose rock occasionally falling from the hail hitting it so hard, and we were the only two up there along with another duo.

We began to hear static and buzzing, and when we took off our hoods–our hair stuck strait up, and the electricity was heavy in the air. If you put a finger in the air it would vibrate and buzz. The other duo quickly took off, and we decided we should wait it out because we could see blue skies in the horizon. We laid down and tried to stay low because we could see lightening hitting the surrounding peaks! Soon enough blue skies came, the rock dried up a bit, and we headed down the mountain. Probably my favorite hiking story to date.

https://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/black-tusk/