Over the years, we have tried to hike all of the rocky hills overlooking Kamloops Lake. Some of the areas are easily accessible, but the majority of the lake is difficult to access. For some of these areas, we only wander the slopes off-season when there is no other activity and no one around. We only hike the Snag Hills (our name) in winter. The hills have open forests and many old snags on the edges of hills so we wander around with no destination in mind, climbing all the hills, looking for views, noting standing snags, wind-shaped trees, rock outcrops, wildlife (we spotted deer and grouse this last time), and whatever natural features we encounter. A few images from our recent “wander” are included below. Hover your cursor over an image for a caption or click for a full lightbox image.

From the top of the highest rocky hill, we were treated to views of Kamloops Lake.

The skies started to clear on the way back down through the sagebrush slopes. Clouds scudded by, heading northeast.

In this dry winter, ponds were losing the snow in the ice, revealing the green hues of the shallow, alkali ponds.

There are more hills to explore over the winter. In some ways, the best hiking of the year is on clear, mild winter days.