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.
Inks Lake lies in a basin just off the Lac le Jeune Road in the grasslands southeast of Sugarloaf Hill and west of Jacko Lake. Because it is shallow, there is no fishing in the lake and in mid-summer algae expands throughout the lake. It sees little recreational use, except for winter pond hockey and an occasional lakeside camper. There … Continue reading…
The trails on the western end of Kenna Cartwright Park offer 4 season hiking opportunities , especially if we start at the gate on Hillside Drive past the prison. This is out of the park but is a well-used access point to the main trails – Ponderosa Trail, Sunset and Mesa Trails. There is also a single track loop that … Continue reading…
Edith Lake is a popular fishing lake so it is better for paddlers to launch at non-prime fishing times to stay out of the way. We went out with our stand-up paddleboard and paddled away from fishing boats, sticking close to the shoreline. Grassland hills rise above the lake on each side. The back arms of the lake are … Continue reading…
The fine trails on the northeast end of Kenna Cartwright Park are not well known, but they are interesting trails with excellent views. The best access is from the recycling area on Bunker Road (drive past the bins and park). The entrance trail is the Sage Trail. and any combination of trails can be used. On this last outing we … Continue reading…
There are only 3 reasonable access points to Kamloops Lake – Cooney Bay, Savona, and Tobiano Boat Launch (Brubaker Marina). For paddlers this divides the lake into 3 sections and since this is a big lake (30 km from end to end), each works well for 3 days of paddling each year. To access the middle part of Kamloops Lake, … Continue reading…
Mount Perry rises to 1729m (5672 feet) above the lowest point in North America, the Death Valley Basin. It is in the rugged Black Mountains on the east side of Death Valley. The best access point is to take the Dante’s View Road and then from the parking lot continue to bear north following the tops of all the ridges. … Continue reading…
The Bute Lakes are a series of small lakes and marshy meadows in the high country east of Lac le Jeune and north of Ross Moore Lake at 1245m 4085 (ft). The McConnell Forest Service Road bears southeast from the Lac le Jeune Road just 1.1 km north of the Goose Lake Road junction. This is a good backcountry road, … Continue reading…
One of the first two lakes to clear of ice in late winter is Jacko Lake. It can be a busy place in early spring with a lot of eager fishermen, so it is best to find other places to paddle. But, because it is at a lower elevation and shallow, it is not a great summer fishing lake but … Continue reading…
The Tranquille River Trail follows the river (sometimes referred to as “the creek”) upstream for 2 km to the start of the narrows in a steep-sided canyon. The lower end is an easy and scenic hike, suitable for families in all seasons. Along the way are a number of points of interest. This Google map has waypoints, photos, and information … Continue reading…
Stake Lake has clear water, an easy launch, and open scenery, so it is a nice paddle from May through October. When the weather gets hot, the lake is at 1321m (4333 feet) so it is cooler than the bottom of the valley in Kamloops. A paddle around the shoreline is just 2.5 km so we usually do 2-3 loops, … Continue reading…
The trail around McConnell Lake is a moderate BC Parks forested loop trail of 3 km. It takes about an hour to hike around the lake, most of it close to the lakeshore. The trail is at 1326m elevation (4350 feet) so the high montane forest is primarily douglas fir and spruce. The trail is a narrow one so it … Continue reading…
From 150 Mile House in the Cariboo, the town of Horsefly is a 45 minute drive east and access to Horsefly Lake is another 14 km farther east. Horsefly Lake Provincial Park is on the north side of the lake and it is a great spot to camp and paddle. We launched our kayaks and paddled all the shoreline at … Continue reading…
A must-do for all hikers in the Kamloops area each summer is to take the chairlift to mid-station at Sun Peaks then do the hike to Tod Mountain Summit. Our favorite route is to take the Top of the World Trail – the Westridge Trail – Tod Peak Trail. For hikers, Sun peaks uses trail numbers on red seasonal signage … Continue reading…
Walloper Lake is located near the junction of the Coquihalla Highway (Hwy. 5S) and the Meadow Creek Road, 4 km west of Lac le Jeune. The easiest access is in Walloper Lake Provincial Park (created in 1987) where there is dirt road and a boat launch area. The lake is 43 hectares in size and has a maximum depth of … Continue reading…
We hike a number of different routes to the top of Mount Mara. The most frequently hiked are up the front side through the canyon and then up the gully (article) or around the west side on the old double track to the west end of Pruden Pass, then up the double track to the top. A favorite … Continue reading…
White Lake is a medium-sized alkali lake in the southwest end of the Cariboo. It is accessed by driving west on the Meadow Lake Road past Meadow Lake. The hand lunch area is at the west end of the lake. We drove in from Big Bar Lake on backroads. There were no homes or grazing fences, nor any evidence of … Continue reading…
