In the off-season and on rainy days, we look for open trails and many of these have remnants of the pine beetle kill still standing. The Mesa Trail and the ridge to the east (Lava Flow Trail) have a number of standing dead ponderosa pines, all doomed to be windfall. The douglas firs are still standing and few young ponderosas … Continue reading…
Once you find yourself at the right elevation on the Colorado Plateau, every direction is an outdoor playground. While hiking in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, I spent a few nights hiking and camping. The National Park Campground was always full so I found camping spots outside the park. The Lockhart Basin Road is only a few miles … Continue reading…
Caligata Lake Provincial Park is a remote area in the upper Spahats Creek Valley. The lake lies in a small cirque basin at the foot of one of the outlier peaks of Raft Mountain. To get to this park, drive up the Trophy Mountain Road for 4.2 km then stay right and follow the Spahats Creek Road for another 9.3km. … Continue reading…
A year after hiking this trail system in Canyonlands National Park, I returned to hike it again, this time in the opposite direction. In the Needles District of Canyonlands, we can combine a series of trails to make our own loop. I arrived early in the afternoon so I chose to do an 11 mile loop combining Lost Canyon, Big … Continue reading…
The Peekaboo Trail starts at Squaw Flats Trailhead in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park and works its way over to Peekaboo Camp. An out-and-back hike is 10 miles, well worth a day of hiking in the area. This (along with Upper Salt Creek) was my favorite trail of 2016. The trail follows the same route as the Lost … Continue reading…
Trails lead from Num-ti-Jah Lodge Road on Bow Lake in Banff National Park around the lake and up to Bow Glacier Falls. Follow the trail around the lake for 1.6 km, then continue to follow the stream toward the falls. An indistinct trail goes up to the base of the falls. On the same route, a trail bears south … Continue reading…
Many slot canyons and narrows in Utah are hard to get to and some involved scrambling, but Willis Creek Narrows is an easy drive and an easy hike. I came to it from Kodachrome Basin. Between Kodachrome and Cannonville watch for a turn-off to the Skutumpah Road. This is a good dirt road (except after a rainfall) and the drive … Continue reading…
The Nehalliston Plateau has many lakes, hikes, and backroads to explore. The Eakin Creek Road connects Highway 24 with the upper plateau lakes including the Emar Lakes, Eakin Creek Floodplain Protected Area, the Hudson’s Bay Trail of 1843, and Eakin Creek Canyon Provincial Park. The road can be driven from either end. For this article, the route starts at the … Continue reading…
The hills above Lions Head are a surprisingly pleasing area to hike. There are many rock-faced hills one above the other with open forest and grassy slopes between. There were a few mostly-dry ponds in sheltered pockets. We started our hike on a side road that follows the transmission lines north up the hill, working our way up to get … Continue reading…
Our climb of Mt. Athabasca is now some decades past so most of this post is just a collection of memories, not a guide to completing the route. We were still on film cameras then, so by modern standards I did not document the detailed route with GPS and digital camera as we can today. We had taken a mountaineering … Continue reading…
We have had the downriver paddle from Clearwater to Kamloops in our plans for a few years and we made the decision to do it, regardless of weather. I was fortunate to find someone else to join me (thanks Greg) so we made our plans and packed our drybags. Nels came along to see us off and drive the vehicle … Continue reading…
The Stake Lake system offers 60 km of forested trails for cross country skiers, snowshoers, hikers, and cyclists, but there are also some nice viewpoints for a lunch in any season. We hiked to 4 of them in the fall. Hikers can make up their own route on this trail system. The Lookout Trail is a double track ski trail, … Continue reading…
Rockface Mountain stands at the southeast end of Paul Lake facing east toward Pinantan Lake. The hike to the top of the mountain is a short one, though steep. A high clearance vehicle can go right to the trailhead, but we started back on the Pinantan – Harper Road to add some more distance. Our 13 km return hike followed … Continue reading…
Skull Hill has a number of horseback-hiker trails that have been established for a number of years in the aftermath of the 2003 Louis Creek fire. Much of the area was burned and fallen trees lie on the slopes, but the double tracks have been mostly cleared and some single track trails have been added. We started at Fishtrap Camp … Continue reading…
For 4 days in the fall we paddled the whole shoreline of the west arm of Murtle Lake. This was a return trip having done it twice before, but this time I was determined to follow the contours and go into every bay and creek mouth as far as the terrain would allow. On Day 1, we paddled over to … Continue reading…
We backpacked for 4 days in April, 2015 from Cedar Mesa into the Needles District of Canyonlands, Utah: An article to follow – currently scheduled for December 17th.
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