The rocky hills above Kamloops Lake have a few old tracks and fewer trails.    There are sections of private property and many leased grazing lands so finding routes through the hills takes some exploration and patience.    Many of the slopes are used for grazing, so any exploration is best done in the off-season, when snows blanket the hills.   After the first snowfall, I wandered through the hills from Abbey Road, staying high, finding routes between the hills and up the ridges. 

Abbey Road continues through to Saltwort Pond, but passes through sections of privately-owned and leased lands.    Tracks turn off along the way, inviting exploration through the hills. 

The cliffs above invited climbing up open ridges.    A loop route was chosen on this day.  

Secondary tracks provided access to the upper hills. 

A route up and over a series of steep ridges provide good views.    Kamloops Lake was over the hills and down in the bottom of the valley.

From the top of the ridges, views to the south were to the lower slopes of Greenstone Mountain with the low wintery sun bright through hazy clouds.  

From the top of the ridge I chose to bushwhack down the steep, rocky slopes, carefully and slowly, doing so before any fencelines.  

This was a two hour hike through the hills on an eclectic route on a combination of known and new routes through the Abbey Hills.