We travel down to the Merritt area from time to time to hike on the area trails.   Our favorite is the Lundbom area, but we have also hiked the other areas, like the Swakum Mountain Trails.   On previous occasions we have gone up and back from the flagpole parking area, but this time we tried a loop route, returning by lower slopes.

From the flagpole parking area, we climbed trails heading northwest.   Some of the junctions are not well marked, but with a printed map and a GPS, we worked our way onto the Upper Scenic Trail.

At several points along the upper trail, there were views of the Nicola Valley below.

We enjoyed some of the single track sections on the Swakum sidehill.

At the east end of the trail system, we encountered some junctions and we chose a clockwise loop.   We did not enjoy any of the route choices that descended steeply down the hills.

Once we got down the steep eroded slopes, we tried to work our way back through a maze of unsigned trails.   At one point we came to a fence so we dropped down to the streets and worked our way back to the flagpole.

We liked the Upper Scenic Trail. and so if we return, we would do a counter-clockwise loop, returning on a higher parallel track, returning back to the flagpole parking area from above.

It was a good day of hiking, though.   We will be hiking on the Lundbom Trails on our next time in the area.