Trails and Routes
When you live in the Interior of B.C., there are numerous unnamed hills, ridges, mountains and high spots to explore. Some have backroad access, some have trail access, but some have no established trails at all, but can still be hiked following a "route."
With the old topo maps, we used our compass and map to navigate a route to the top and back to our vehicle. The upper areas below 4000 feet generally have open forest or manageable bushwacking. Gullies, wet zones, north slopes, or elevations between 4500 and 6500 feet may have thicker forest, but for the most part, we can still find a reasonable route up without fighting the underbrush.
Today, we can use your GPS to mark rour vehicle parking spot, and we can preview potential routes on Google Earth, recording waypoints for reference. Once we are out in the bush, we can turn on tracking to record our route or help us find our way back.
So, a "route" is an off-trail way to get to a highspot. We will be offering some routes for the intrepid to try out. A word of caution. Most people should not ry these routes on their own. Getting lost or having an accident is always a danger and "routes" won't have foot traffic to find you if you can't move. Bring your GPS, cell phone, or Spot with you. Don't expect to find the exact "right" path. You may be exploring a bit along the way.
Some of the routes to be featured include:
- Mount Vicars
- Bestwick Hill
- Louis Ridge
- Alternate routes up Mount Mara and Wheeler
- Paul Ridge
- Strawberry Hill
- Scarface Mountain
- Mount Fleet
- Dewdrop hills
- a few ridges
- and a few more….