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.
Red Lake is a scenic drive of 40 km from Tranquille, following the Tranquille River through the canyon and then into the uplands area near Criss Creek. Take the turn to Red Lake (Sabiston Creek Road) and continue to Red Lake Drive. There are two places to launch a boat. A small park, parking area, and boat launch has been … Continue reading…
The Upper and Lower Flumes Trails both start at the same parking area. The Upper Flumes Trail follows Bear Creek upstream, through the creek gully and up the ridge, tracing the route for the Flumes placed there one hundred years ago. The Lower Flumes Trail follows Bear Creek downstream until it meets Adams River, then splits to go upstream or … Continue reading…
On a litter of fall leaves, we followed the Flumes Trail from the parking lot up the left side of Bear Creek. Small waterfalls rush down the creek valley alongside the trail. The upper section is a loop with remains of old flumes still standing or in pieces on the ground. Most of the upland logging was done in the … Continue reading…
We hike to Battle Bluff about three times this year… When conditions are marginal, this is always a good choice. The trailhead is much easier to spot now. BC Parks has erected a sign in front of a concrete barricade and the route is now a straight line to the gully. The trail is easy to follow, although a couple … Continue reading…
The Mara Canyon Trail (sometimes referred to as the Hoodoos Trail or the Cinnamon Ridge Trail) is one of the favorites of our area. Even though we have hiked this route many times in the past, we went up the route this fall to look at the possibility of improving the trail, to see how much erosion had occurred and … Continue reading…
From the Watching Creek Forest Service site, there used to be two bridges, one below the site and another farther downstream, at the bottom of a gully. A loop route could be hiked by crossing the river and continuing along the Rim Trail on the east side and back by a footbridge south of the Rec site. Both bridges were … Continue reading…
A return trip to the Tranquille Canyon Slot Canyons was the result of a last minute decision when the weather cleared up. In our last visit to the canyon we traversed the slots in summer when the water was warmer and the summer was dryer. This was mid-October and the water was cold, but the weather was nice and … Continue reading…
After years about hearing about the arch up on the Dewdrop Escarpment, the clues were sufficient enough to go look for it. We couldn’t spot it from below, even though we had been assured it could be seen. What we found out was that the place to see it is farther up the road. We headed uphill to where we … Continue reading…
The peaks in the Coquihalla Summit area offer good hiking opportunities for hikers in the summer and cross country.snowshoe activities in the winter. Many of the peaks are steep, but once up at the treeline views are expansive. There are only a few designated trails up these peaks, and of these, the easiest is Zoa Peak. Take the Falls Lake … Continue reading…
A popular fishing lake, Campbell Lake is also a nice paddle. Grasslands surround two sides of the lake and forest on the other sides. The approach to the lake is to drive up the Campbell Range Road, then turn onto the Scuitto Lake Road. Follow this good gravel road to Scuitto Lake. Follow the road along the lake going … Continue reading…
Holdings Road runs the length of Adams Lake along the west shore. It is an active logging road, but much improved. I would be happy to pull my trailer on this road all the way to the north end. There are some beautiful campgrounds on the shores of the lake. An earlier post described the marine campgrounds in the middle … Continue reading…
Edith Lake is small enough that it will take two loops around the lake to get a good paddle, but it has an interesting shoreline, with grasslands, a north-aspect bluff, a swampy area, and probably a few fishermen to dodge. The shoreline is 3.5 km rorund. There are 3 places to launch from off the Edith Lake Road. A long … Continue reading…
We try to paddle every lake in our area, following the shoreline, exploring bays, watching for wildlife, waterfowl, and aquatic plants. We have to paddle around fishermen and snags. Sometimes we go around the lake twice, once in each direction. On a quiet afternoon, I launched from the provincial recreation site on the north shore, not far from the fishing … Continue reading…
We hiked Estekwalan Mountain a year after our first time on the mountain. The first trip last year was in late fall on the snow (link to previous post). This September trip had hot and dry conditions. The road up is still a bit rough, but most vehicles will be fine, unless conditions are wet. We followed the trail to … Continue reading…
Stoyama Mountain is the last big mountain in the north Cascades. It can been seen from the Coquihalla Highway as you drive between Merritt and the crossing of the Clearwater River, a long rocky ridge-like mountain to the west. Stoyama is 7438 feet, rising above the hills around. The mountain itself is part of an encircling ring of rocky mountain … Continue reading…
Mount Temple, at 11 760 feet looms above all the other mountains of the Lake Louise-Moraine Lake area. I had been to Sentinel Pass below Temple more than a dozen times and had even hiked up the Temple Trail to the first buttress to have a look at the trail. When I received the invitation out of the blue to … Continue reading…
