Kane Valley is southeast of Merritt, with a short drive off Highway 5A at Aspen Grove.   There are 51 km of cross country ski trails there, but they are also used by mountain bikers, hikers, and snowshoers.   Trails are maintained by the Nicola Nordic Ski Club (website link).  Although I had hiked some of the trails before, the goal is to hike them all over time.   On this last drive to the Kane Valley in early November there was no snow, but the ground was mostly frozen.   I carried a map, but there were posted maps at all tail intersections so I just used their maps.

On this day the trailhead was P5 at the end of Lower Second Lake.   There was some ice in sheltered bays but most of the lake was ice-free.   The trail wound around the south end of the lake.

Frost on the shrubs next to a marshy end of the lake was welcomed.

I followed the Kane Trail which was mostly a double track through the forest.

Kane Valley Road is at 1160m but forested hills to the north and south rise 300 – 400 m.   Much of the land in the bottom part of the valley has grassland – grazing land and open forests.

My route crossed Kane Valley Road at P3.   I climbed the Vale Trail then turned onto Gulch on a planned loop route.

The trails were wide, moderate and had few steep sections.

I came down off the ridge to the lakeshore.   There were two boats on the lake with fishermen getting last hours on the lakes.

There are a number of scenic lakes to hike around and some wetland to investigate as well as forested tracks to hike, cross country ski, or snowshoe.   I communicated with one of the Club members about snowshoe trails.   There are 3 routes established with some signs posted, but no map has been produced at this time.   Any of the trailheads can be used as a starting point for nordic skiing and for snowshoeing a good starting point would be P3.   We will be returning to ski and snowshoe the trails this winter.

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