In an effort to explore as many hills as I can within 2 hours drive from Kamloops, I ventured down Highway 1 towards Spences Bridge and walked Epsom Provincial Park, toured the Venables Valley, and picked a large  open hill to hike up in spring.     From the rest stop at the foot of Red Hill, I worked my way north past the grazing fence lines then started to climb the open hillside to the top.

The folded hills of the Thompson Plateau to the west are grassland hills at lower elevations, then forested above in the Cornwall Hills and the Clear Range.

One of the reasons for choosing this area in May was to witness the bitterroot bloom on the infertile open slopes.   I wasn’t disappointed.   thousands of flowers covered the south and west-facing slopes of Red Hill.

There were few trees on Red Hill, except near the top at 695 m (2280 ft.).   The vertical rise up the open slopes from the highway to the top was about 240m (787 ft.)

From the top were views down the Thompson River Valley and across the hills in every direction, but it was for the spring bitterroot bloom that this route was chosen.

We will pick a new hill to climb in the Ashcroft to Spences Bridge area to welcome the bitterroot next spring.