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 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 … Continue reading…
In late fall most of the trails of the area became quite icy so we decided to hike in the lower grasslands on a route I call the Barren Hills. It is just an section of the lower Batchelor Hills. Some of the old double tracks were used by ranchers. Most of the single tracks are relatively new, made by … Continue reading…
On a cool sunny day the route down to Balancing Rock was the choice for a hike on the snow. When the snow builds up it is hard to pull off the highway at the right spot, but with only 10 cm of snow it was easy enough. All of the hiking was on the snow, down the hill to … Continue reading…
A summary of early winter snowshoeing is captured in this YourTube video by KamloopsTrails: Click the YouTube link on the menu bar for more KamloopsTrails videos.
Continue reading...On a cool (-4C) November day we hiked up Sugarloaf Hill from the Coquihalla Highway pullout. Much of the route was on snow, but it was mostly sunny with just a little wind (except on the top). The lower part of the hike is a double track that winds up through grassland hills toward the upper forests. The hike climbs … Continue reading…
A new video is now available on YouTube: There are many more videos that can be seen by clicking the YouTube link on the menu bar for this website.
Continue reading...On the day that all highways were closed from the heavy rainfall and Merritt was evacuated because of flooding, there was a short break in the afternoon, so I brought pine needles and pine cones to recycle, then I hiked on the Sage Trail from the Bunker Road trailhead. The sun shone through a gap in dark skies. The trails … Continue reading…
The Outer Inks area has a extensive trail-double track network that is used by ATVs and motorcycles in season, but also provide routes for hikers, mountain bikers, and snowshoers in shoulder season and in winter. There are some trail markers in the forest, but most junctions are unmarked and it is sometimes hard to find a planned route. Carrying a … Continue reading…
From Rose Hill Park a number of informal trails and routes go east, west, and north and some of the trails can be combined to make a loop route, or an out-and-back route across the hills. On a November day I watched for trails heading toward Juniper Ridge and at each junction, I made eclectic choices, eventually doing a loop … Continue reading…
While visiting Mayne Island for paddling, hiking, and exploration, we hiked the trails in Mount Parke Regional Park. We accessed the trailhead off Montrose Road. The trails are well developed, winding through the western red cedars, red alders, giant sword ferns, and oregon grape. We followed the Halliday Ridge Trail as it wound its way east to connect to other … Continue reading…
Clapperton Hill is the forested ridge-hill that rises above the grasslands in the Lac du Bois Nature Conservancy. In past years I have hiked and snowshoed around the hill, I had climbed to the top area from the southwest, and I have visited a favorite viewpoint on the south shoulder a number of times. On this November day, the plan … Continue reading…
Snow had fallen in the Lac le Jeune area so our hiking was all on about 8 cm of wet snow. We hiked 11 km on trails and routes on the east side of the lake. From the Ross Moore Forest Service Road, we hiked first on the Sidewinder Trail then the Gus Johnson Trail. We hiked out to the … Continue reading…
On a sunny November day I hiked the trail above White Lake to the Lookout. There was some slash burning on Bastion Mountain so there was some smoke in the area. Although the trail is quite a good one, finding the right trail is a challenge. At the bottom is a maze of bike trails. I wound my way … Continue reading…
A new video is now available on YouTube: This is Google Earth Fly-Over imagery, a digital creation of views from the top of the mountain.
Continue reading...On a late fall day we hiked to Moul Falls in Wells Gray Provincial Park. From the parking lot, we hiked 3.3 km through the forest and by the creek to the brink of the falls. Paperbark birch, trembling aspen, spruce, and douglas fir trees are found in a mixed forest along the route. A double track angles toward Grouse … Continue reading…
The Tranquille River Trail is a short, flat trail up the east side of the river, ending 2 km upstream (although informal routes can be followed farther into the canyon). In the fall, it is a colorful route. A spring feeds a small marsh along the route. Rushes, reeds, and shrubs provide a colorful fringe around the marsh. There are … Continue reading…
