The Bushwacker Trail in the Stake Lake Trail system is a backcountry route on top of McConnell Hill. It can be hiked in summer or fall or snowshoed in winter. The main trail access is off the Sidewinder Trail, a 4 km hike from Stake Lake. The main trail system of the Stake Lake cross country (multi-use) trails are double … Continue reading…
The Savona Caves Trail is a short and steep route to cliffs on the east side of Mount Savona. To find the trailhead, drive south on the Tunkwa Lake Road for about 11.5 km from Savona and turn onto the Savona Mountain Road. At 0.6 up the forest service road, watch for a dirt double track on the right. Park … Continue reading…
The Canadian Homestead Act was passed in 1872. The goal was to settle the west, giving one square mile to applicants who came from Europe, the USA, and eastern Canada. The Dominion Lands Act limited the land parcels to acreages at least 20 miles from the railroad, but this meant that few farmers took up the offer so the laws … Continue reading…
On the south side of Pemberton is One Mile Lake and a number of trails suitable for walking, hiking, and mountain biking. A loop goes around the lake, but a good connector trail goes to Nairn Falls Provincial Park, and mountain bike trails go over the ridge on the east side. Over 2 days of hiking, we went to Nairn … Continue reading…
The Wells Gray Corridor Road ends at Clearwater Lake where there is a campground and a boat launch. Right at the campground is a longer (km) trail over the forested hills above Clearwater Lake. The Chain meadows loop Trail is about 16.5 km. The trail winds to the top of Bluff overlooking the falls, then goes north on a wet … Continue reading…
There are 60 km of hiking trails in the Stake Lake network. A few of them go over or around McConnell Hill. The hill rises 600 feet above McConnell Lake, with steep cliffs on the west and north sides. Below the cliffs are talus slopes of broken rock, a rugged terrain, not suitable for hiking. Yet, when the snows cover … Continue reading…
Although we have walked the Othello Tunnels many times over the years, we returned to enjoy the route on a smoky day in August. An image gallery features some of the highlights. Hover your cursor for a caption or click an image for a full-sized view Othello Tunnels images
Continue reading...Before the Kettle Valley Railway was built between 1910 and 1916, there were older trails and routes to the Interior used by First Nations, fur traders, explorers, and gold seekers. From Hope one of the routes went up the Coquihalla River, but there was one difficult area right where the Othello Tunnels were later added, so mule trains and … Continue reading…
When smoky skies blanketed the Interior, the Fraser Valley had far better conditions so we drove to Chilliwack to hike one of the mountains on the south side. Our first choice was Mt.. Cheam, but the smoke had increased overnight and there were no views anywhere up high so a more moderate trail was chosen. The Elk Mountain Trail is … Continue reading…
The San Rafael Reef is the edge of the San Rafael Swell, a 75 mile uplifted, tilted ridge of layers of sandstone in central-eastern Utah. It can be accessed by Highway 70, but for hiking trailheads, Highway 24 is the best route. A number of trailheads start off the roads which go into Goblin Valley State Park. The trails at … Continue reading…
Mount Rose and Mount Swanson are the rounded hills on the west side of Armstrong. The hiking trails climb about 200m to broad hilltops and wind over forested ridges, through wooded valleys, and along sideslopes. The trailhead is found off Chamberlaine Road (Salmon River Road > Hallam road >Chamberlaine Road). From the signed trailhead there are 8 km of trails … Continue reading…
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…
