At the upper end of the grazing lands forested hills rise up on the Interior Plateau.    Double tracks wind up the hills, providing access to ranchers, loggers, pipeline and gas line workers, communications tower workers, and a small number of hikers.    Most of the access routes are not plowed in winter and all progress is on-snow.    Some of us walk or snowshoe these less-used routes, often exploring.   From the upper end of the pastures, fenced areas give way to mixed grassland and forest, with aspens and pines first, then douglas fir higher up.    The transitional border area makes good hiking.  

The low winter sun broke through clouds on a day that would later darken with the approach of a snow storm.  

Old homesteads can sometimes be spotted in this higher country, below the douglas fir forested slopes.  

Gullies and stream drainages are often marked by willows, red ossier dogwood, and aspens.

Aspens grow in clonal clusters along the climb to the hills.  

On this day, the route was a loop, following old double tracks to the forest, then up through the hills.    To form a loop, the connector section was all off-trail, looking for a bushwhack route by dead reckoning, often following deer tracks.    After some time of winding down the hills, the route rejoined the track made in the snow on the way up, the last leg of another day of exploration, enjoying the beauty of a winter day in the upper grasslands and high country forest.