In late fall when the first snows cover the uplands hills we sometimes hike at the northern end of the grasslands near McQueen Lake.   The season for cattle grazing is over in the Nature Conservancy and students are usually not at the Overnight Center in transitions season, but we still want to avoid trespassing on the site when students are on the site, so we plan trails accordingly.   The first half of the route starts outside of McQueen Lake and accesses existing gates with no fence-climbing required.  There is good parking just south of McQueen Lake and we walked back to the edge of the forest and followed the old double track east.   A hard-to-spot single track leads to the west end of Clay Lake, then we hiked through the open grassland and ponds area to the Grasslands Community Trail next to Meadow Pond.   .

Snow covered the whole area with some bare areas on south-facing open slopes.   Clay Lake was frozen, but we did not take a chance going on the lake this early in the season.

From the junction of the McQueen Lake – Grasslands Community Trail, we followed the trail north to Griffin Lake and veered onto the Orange Trail which follows the shoreline of the lake.

At tjhe northern end of Griffin Lake is the tiny Brown Homestead. sitting in a small meadow.

A tall fir tree stands over the shores of the lake, interpreted digitally in greys.

We followed the orange trail, then the blue trail and finally the red trail.   If students were in session, we would have taken other trails instead.   As a former teacher I had many student groups on these trails over several decades of outdoor education.   Kamloops is very lucky to have the McQueen Lake Environmental Center and we all need to be supportive and respectful of the expectations of this facility.   Off-season is a good time to use any of the trails, adjusting the route according to whether or not students are on the property, and avoiding the Overnight Center altogether.    On this late fall day,w e walked on the snow down the Red Trail next to McQueen Lake

Our tour of the Lakes and Ponds was about 7 km, taking about 2.5 hours.   Some sections were a bit icy so we were careful, but traction devices would be appropriate in these types of conditions too.   We will return to the Clay Lake area this winter for some snowshoeing, setting tracks for others to follow.