I started exploring this area in 1976 and I continue to follow tracks and routes wherever they lead, with the aid of map, compass, GPSr and camera. After many dead-ends, but also many discoveries, I chose to share this information. Getting out 12 months each year, I continue to explore trails, tracks, routes, and waterways of the Kamloops area and beyond.
The Westsyde Bench trail starts in Batchelor Heights and follows the benchlands above Westsyde all the way to Deep Lake. Before the Batchelor Subdivision was built, we used to follow single and double track routes from the Lac du Bois Road, but with all the new building in the area, we now have to use a different trailhead. The easiest … Continue reading…
We were out on three local trails this last week and short updates and links are provided on all three. Moonscape Trail – the Kamloops Indian Band has requested that all on-line references to hiking the trail be removed. Peterson Creek East Rim Trails go up the west side of Peterson Creek all the way to Castle Towers, but there … Continue reading…
The Island of Kauai is not particularly suited to biking, unless you have a mountain bike and are willing to use the backroads. No one is going to give you a map, but there are number of very interesting routes and many points of interest along the way. This is the best one in the Koloa area. Start near … Continue reading…
Some hiking routes fall into the adventure category. By rights, the route should not exist and over time may not be viable. For now, the Kaapoko Trail was unknown even to island residents until an adventure writer found enough information to describe the route in the best-selling The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook. With each revision, more information was added … Continue reading…
A post told with photos. Snow blankets the grasslands: Lakes and ponds are frozen and snow-covered flat spaces: Wind and sun sculpt the snow banks. A few stunted trees stand alone. Drfits on north slopes will last into spring. We leave a few tracks in the snow, eventually to be erased by the melting snows.
Continue reading...Clearwater Marine Campsites Part Two is the second in a series on paddle camping on Clearwater Lake. From the boat launch to most of the marine campsites we will paddle north, but Caribou Beach Campsite is southwest, only 750 metres away. If it is a blustery day, this is a good backcountry destination. We found 4-5 sites with beach front … Continue reading…
At the end of the Wells Gray corridor, the road ends at Clearwater Lake. Further progress is marine access only. The lake runs for 24km north and has 7 campsites along its shores. Beyond is an upriver paddle to Azure Lake or a rough portage. Some people take the water taxi to the end of Azure and then paddle back. … Continue reading…
In 2013, get into the outdoors and find those special spots. Find a slot canyon, look through a natural arch, climb a volcanic plug, scramble eroded ridges above the hoodoos, and hike into a canyon between two rock pillars. Here are 5 for your list: 1. Tranquille Slot Canyons – see Playing the Slots 2. Red Plateau Arch – Dewdrop … Continue reading…
The first trails to dry out and be good for hiking and biking are the lower Barren Hills, above the North Shore. These slopes are south-facing, treeless, and open. Older double tracks and newer single tracks (bikes) traverse the hills, keeping much of the route gently rolling, avoiding steep climbs. It is easy to get a 8km out and back … Continue reading…
The Lac du Bois Grasslands provide many opportunities for winter exploration. A parking lot is established on the east side of the Lac du Bois Road (at N50 46.612 W120 25.903). about 8.6 km past the cattleguard. A series of kiosks can now be found along the trail into the central bowl of ponds, grasslands and glaciated hills. In spring … Continue reading…
The Bushwacker Trail was first established when the Stake Lake Trail system was built following the decision to run the Coquihalla Highway through the existing Bush Lake-Timber Lake trails, which had been earlier built for the 1979 BC Winter Games. Bushwacker was added when the Sidewinder Trail crossed a high shoulder of McConnell Hill. It was always considered to be … Continue reading…
Iago Mountain stands to the west of the Coquihalla Summit area. It is really a horseshoe-shaped peak at the headwaters of the Anderson River and Boston Bar Creek. The summit is at the northeast end of the horseshoe, overlooking the Coquihalla Highway to the south, but it is also surrounded by the peaks of the Summit area – Needle Peak, … Continue reading…
In the desert hills east of Las Vegas is Valley of Fire State Park. We spent the day exploring the park hiking some of the short trails. We liked the look of the campgrounds (although they would be blazing hot in the day time), so we may return for a few days to explore all of the trails, canyons, pictographs, … Continue reading…
Sunset Hill is the highest of the three hills that make up Middle Mountain which stands high above Barnhartvale. The trail up Sunrise Mountain is one of our favorite ridge climbs worth the steep climb because of the great views. In the late fall, we went up Sunrise Mountain, then traversed west over to Sunset Hill, scouting it out for … Continue reading…
The trails out to Ross Moore Lake are becoming grown-in over the last 40 years. Back in the 1970’s, there was a cross-country ski race (loppet) along this track. It was wider then and there were no trees down along the route. We followed the 6.75 km trail from the end of Lac Le Jeune Drive through the forest … Continue reading…
Just outside St. George, Utah is an area called Red Cliffs Recreation area. The slickrock canyons, ragged bluffs, canyons, and mesas of the area sit on the edge of the desert. Some narrow canyons have been cut by streams flowing out of the Pine Mountains on the way to the Virgin River. An interesting hiking trail/scramble leads up one of … Continue reading…
