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.
Iago Peak is a seldom-hiked peak in the Coquihalla Summit area. We have twice snowshoed to the top and back and we enjoyed the route and the views from the top. We have also followed the same trail to climb to the top of Zupjok Peak. This last outing was our first time hiking the route and we found … Continue reading…
We drove up rougher backroads as high as we could on Baldy Mountain, then hiked to the top and back. Along the way we passed the abandoned Windpass Mine at about 5000 feet. We stopped to look one of the old buildings and we saw the tailings from the mine entrance, but we had a hike to do so we … Continue reading…
Baldy Mountain is on the east side of the North Thompson River, standing above Dunn Lake and west of Dunn Peak. It is part of the Dunn Range, a series of rocky peaks with Dunn Peak in the center at 2595m (8513 feet), the highest peak of our area. We drove to Little Fort and took the reaction ferry across … Continue reading…
Mabel Lake Provincial Park is accessed by driving through Vernon, then east on Highway 6 through Lumby, then north on the Mabel Lake Road for 36 km. The final 2 km is along the gravel Mabel Lake Forest Service Road. This is a popular camping spot with 84 campsites all near the lake. Mabel Lake was high when we … Continue reading…
Raft Mountain stands up above Clearwater, a steep pyramid on top of a green plateau. The back side of the mountain is all cliffs and the final section of the hike is on a narrow rocky ridge. There is a long (21 km) gravel road approach on backroads. The road is suitable to most vehicles until the last 2 km. … Continue reading…
When Sun Peaks opens its Sunburst Chair for summer hiking, we buy a lift ticket and hike the upper trails on the mountain. In most years we hike back to the summit of Tod Mountain, an 8.5 km route. On this last hot summer day we hiked with our grandson, so we wanted a shorter scenic hike. We chose to … Continue reading…
For 40+ years we have been hiking in the Trophy Range. We have done one of more than one summit in most years and we will continue to return to the Trophies since it has the best hiking in our area.. KamloopsTrails.net has quite a few articles on various trails and routes and a map with links is provided here … Continue reading…
We paddled out to Wallace Island on a calm day, so we went right through the middle of Trincomali channel, but on the way back 2 days later, the winds were stronger from the southeast so we did a crossing of the channel right to the bluffs of Galiano island, then followed the line of cliffs for 15 km all … Continue reading…
We have been hiking into the Trophy Mountains for over 40 years and we returned in early July this year to hike to the summit of Long Hill. There are 7 summits in the Trophy Mountains and a few high ridges between. Long Hill is the westernmost summit at 7611 feet. We followed the main Trophy Meadows trail through the … Continue reading…
Gulf islands National Park Reserve has 13 designated trails on several islands. The Mt. Norman and Beaumont Trails are on South Pender Island. Both trails start at the Ainslie Point parking area and climb uphill for 350m to a junction. The trail on the left leads to the top of Mount Norman. the trail on the right goes up … Continue reading…
Wild Horse Ridge has open karst alpine ridges that extend for 5 km in a U shape. Once we have hiked to the saddle area on the ridge, we can bear left to go around the North Ridge or we can bear right to continue up toward Mt. Kerr, the highest peak in the Marble Range. Our goal for this … Continue reading…
We paddled much of the south end of Mabel Lake, launching out of Mable Lake Provincial Park. The shoreline down to where the Shuswap River drains into the lake is 3.5 km away. A circuit of the south end is about 10 km. There is a concrete boat launch at the park, but we hand-launched off the beach. The lake … Continue reading…
We hiked on the west end of Mt. Dufferin early in the morning, parking past the Kamloops Regional Correctional Center and hiking up the Pipeline Trail, then the Sunset Trail, the Mesa Trail, Lava Flow Lookout, then back by the Ponderosa Trail, a 6.45 km loop route. From the end of the Sunset Trail (1.4 km), we enjoyed the views … Continue reading…
Mt. Bowman is in the Marble Range. To get to the trailhead, we drove to Clinton, turned west onto the Kelly Lake Road, then north on the Jesmond Road for about 21 km. . At a double curve in the road (N51° 9.435′ W 121° 55.649′ ) a side road leads off to the right. We followed it to the … Continue reading…
When we moved to Kamloops in 1976, Peterson Creek was the first area we explored and hiked. There were few trail signs there and the park boundaries had not been defined. Some of the rails were only faint game tracks or scramble routes across the slopes. Over the years, more trails were added, some were decommissioned, and mountain bikers “excavated” … Continue reading…
When the weather gets hot in summer, we sometimes retreat to the forest and the Outer Inks Trails are just a short drive up the Coquihalla Highway. The trails are a collection of older double tracks and newer single tracks (mostly created by motorcycles), but ATVs and mountain bikes have also shaped the “trail” network. In addition there has been … Continue reading…
