At the upper end of the grazing lands forested hills rise up on the Interior Plateau. Double tracks wind up the hills, providing access to ranchers, loggers, pipeline and gas line workers, communications tower workers, and a small number of hikers. Most of the access routes are not plowed in winter and all progress is on-snow. Some of us walk … Continue reading…
We hiked for a week in Waterton National Park and enjoyed a wide range of routes. One of the easier trails we hiked was the Red Rock Canyon Trail, starting at the end of the Red Rock Parkway. The loop trail is only about 1 km, but there is lots to see. Although this hike is not a destination hike, … Continue reading…
On a mid-December sunny and mild snow we hiked on the Uplands Trails, wearing microspikes on the snowy-icy trails. The main double track bears west, following the gas line, but it is fenced off at the big gully now because of the gravel pit operations. Side trails bear off to the open benchlands on the north side, or up into … Continue reading…
Just before the Covid-19 epidemic we hiked the canyons of the Santa Catalina Range near Tuscon. Pima Canyon was one of our favorite hikes. All of the canyon hikes can be linked up for a long and difficult loop route, but most hikers go up to a viewpoint and back before the desert heat of the afternoon. We got an … Continue reading…
When snow covers the hills there is a period of time when hiking becomes more difficult, but the amount of snow is not enough to put on snowshoes. Some of the lower trails become stomped in by community hikers, but the upper hills see little hiking. On a snowy day a rough route plan was to hike a loop through … Continue reading…
After two snowfalls, the hikes started to be on-the-snow trails. We chose the Doc Findlay Loop in Kenna Cartwright Park for a short loop route under sunny skies. There are a series of rocky hills with wide views along the eastern side of the trail. At the northeast end are views up the North Thompson River Valley. To the north … Continue reading…
On a grey and cool day I wandered in the Ironmask Hills. The bike trails officially closed November 30 and Trans Mountain Pipeline is still active along the north-south route through the hills. On this day, I followed some of the trails, but also chose to bear off for viewpoints and hilltops in an eclectic route. The southwest end of … Continue reading…
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Continue reading...Coal Hill stands above Aberdeen and Pineview in the Kamloops areas. Forest covers the slopes on 3 sides and a trails criss-cross the area on the north, northwest, and northeast sides. Grazing lands are on the south side of the hill. Access involves climbing the hill from the north side. Any exploration of the grassland areas should not be done … Continue reading…
Before the snows get too deep, backroads make good hiking corridors. Once the snow is over 20 cm, snowshoes may be a better option. At about 10 cm hiking was easy with or without traction devices. On a sunny, mild day the hiking route was up the Mud Lake Road from McQueen Lake. There was one set of footprints into … Continue reading…
From Lac du Bois we hiked south along the Upper Grasslands Track past rolling hills and ponds to the (unsigned) Wheeler Mountain Road, along the double track for about 2 km, then onto a side track bearing north to the fenceline, down the fenceline corridor to Hanging Valley, then back up the double track to Lac du Bois, an 8.8 … Continue reading…
In shoulder season each day is a choice between wet, muddy, snowy, or icy conditions (or all of them). There are days when we can find dry trails, but most often we want to avoid deep snow, icy or muddy trails. With this in mind, on a mild day the Lower Rose Hill Trails seemed like a good choice. … Continue reading…
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…
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…
