One of our favorite routes is in the Frederick Bluffs in the Dewdrop Range, We drive onto the Frederick Road and park in a small pullout area between the hills (2 km from where the upper and lower road split). We have been traversing west to the end of bluffs and looping back counter clockwise, but this time we went south (there are no trails) out to Bighorn Bluff, then did a wide arc across the tops of the cliffs before looping back through the gullies.

The terrain in this area is open, but very rugged. The rocky hills sit on a benchland between Kamloops Lake and the Red Plateau Escarpment. Red Plateau itself is 700m higher (2100 feet).

A few ponds in low areas were frozen over in a mostly-snowless winter.

All of the rocky hills between Battle Bluff and the westernmost Frederick Bluffs have fine viewpoints overlooking Kamloops Lake which sits 280 m (920 ft) below.

To the west Kamloops Lake stretches past Frederick on the north shore and Tobiano on the south shore.

Battle Bluff juts out into the lake 2.5 km to the east.

On this exploratory day, the route wound down into a deep gully to spot a waterfall that could faintly be heard from hills above. In mild temperatures the water was flowing but we could also spot ice on some of the cascading cliffs. We will return to explore this steep gully in the spring.

The loop route went past a larger alkali pond between the hills. As it turned out, someone was shooting around the corner so I looped higher and wider than I had planned. Why can’t responsible firearm enthusiasts move farther out past Lac du Bois Grasslands Protected Area (where people walk, dog walk, hike, snowshoe, and mountain bike)?

The off-trail route was 5.5 km taking about 2 hours. We will be back in early spring to explore the bluffs closer to Frederick.