The Hamilton Corrals Commonage can be found at the upper area of the Quilchena Plateau.    The Commonage area is public land, that may also have grazing cattle.   Access within the Commonage is fine, but there may be gates to open and close behind you.      The access road is the Pennask Lake Road which goes up from Nicola Lake at Quilchena.   At about 11.5 km up the hill (and 4376 m of elevation gain) there is an unsigned side road that bears north.    We usually park there, then hike along double tracks north toward Hamilton Mountain (see the map in the gallery below).   The double track passes a series of small lakes and ponds in a rolling grassland area, 

The hike was on a mild, grey spring day when rains had fallen the previous day and rains would fall later in the day. 

In a wet spring, the ponds and marshes were full as were tiny streams and seepage areas.   We encountered no mosquitoes but there were hatches of caddisflies and chironomids on some of the lakes. 

The hike was about 12.6 km.   We stopped at one of the lakes for lunch on our loop route. 

We followed double tracks for about 3/4 of the route, but we went cross country for the final section, going around forests sections and wet spots, walking across the open grasslands hills. 

Although the day was grey, it is still a scenic route with open grasslands, pocket forests, ponds, wildflowers, and long views.   

Click an image for a lightbox view and a caption. 

Hamilton Corrals map route

one of many ponds on the Quichena Plateau

aspen groves

lupines

an around the ridge route

a clump of old man's whiskers

Some video footage provides a stronger visual sense of a hike in the Hamilton Corrals Commonage.