The main goal of the day was to paddle Barnes Lake, but since it was only 4 km around, I also decided to hike through the hills on the west side of Barnes Lake too.    These hills rise above the east side of Ashcroft.   

The hike was up open sagebrush-grassland slopes to the top of three hills which had open douglas fir forests and rocky outcrops.  There were no trails, but an old double track could be followed for part of the route.  

This was slow-going, but interesting and scenic.   Click an image for a lightbox view and a caption. 

hiking the hills

spiral twist pine log

Thompson River into Black Canyon

Cornwwall Hills across the valley

milkvetch

Some video footage provides views from the tops of the hills: