My first trail hike of this magnitude (the previous biggest one was Grouse Grind).
Overall - very satisfied.
First 6km up to junction - pretty steady incline, nice trail, wearing runners just fine. There is a mark at 2.5km so that you know. Took us about 3 hrs up to the junction.
From there we went straight to the lake.
Next 3km the path goes up and down slightly, but there are notably more roots and boulders on the trail, so you have to watch carefully. Just like the Grind, but horizontal. About 1:15 for that stretch.
The lake - magnificent. I took a swim, albeit short as it was run-in-rush-out kind of temperature for me :)
Headed back to the junction. And it was way faster down to parking from there, about 2:15.
Overall - 8am arrived, 2pm back at the parking.
Advice - arrive early. We were there around 8am and the (smallish) parking lot was full. We parked on the curb, but when we came back there was like a mile of cars down the road... so you have to walk another mile that way :)
Also - quite some human traffic on the trail after 11am, people just arriving, and people already on their way back. Well, this was a Saturday of the long BC weekend plus the weather was superb, so lots of folks were heading to Garibaldi.
ps. Named after Italian military and political leader Giuseppe Garibaldi in the 1860s :)