Spring is the time for eagles to lay their eggs into high nests in trees. One old snag in the cliffs area of the Dewdrop Range offers us good views down into the nest. When we had been to this spot a few days earlier, the parents were at the nest, but there were no eggs. On … Continue reading…
In an effort to escape rain and big city busyness while in New Zealand, we decided to explore the Bay of Plenty area so we drove for a few hours northeast from Wellington and found ourselves at Waihi Beach. We opted to turn right right and continued down to the end of the point at Bowentown. We weren’t sure … Continue reading…
From the top of Iago Peak, the snowy Coquihalla Summit peaks are in a 360 degree panorama: Shown in a clockwise direction from Iago Peak: the Anderson Peaks (NW) Guanaco Peak (N) Vicuna Peak (N) Alpaca Peak (NE) Llama Peak(NE) Zupjok Peak (ENE) Zopkios Ridge (E) Yak Peak (E) Coquihalla Highway (ESE) Markhor Peak (SE) Needle Peak (SE) Flatiron Mountain … Continue reading…
At the end of winter, we headed out from the Zopkios Rest Area and followed an old double track that goes up to the top of Ottomite Mountain. On the shoulder of the hill, we contoured around the north side to a meadow, then we followed a faint single track across the sideslopes of Zupjok Peak to the ridge that … Continue reading…
The south summit of Mount Mara has one of the best viewpoints in our whole area. The top of the cliffs offer wide vistas south, east, and west. The summit is a worthwhile destination for hikers, but some hard work is needed to get to the top. On this mid-February day, a route up from the west was chosen since … Continue reading…
Lava flows covered the north side of Kamloops Lake forming Red Plateau and the Dewdrop Range. The basalt lava flow on the Dewdrop Range was a sill, a tabular sheet intrusion in/on sedimentary layers. In places where the basalt cooled on a slope gradient, columns formed and with thousands of years of erosion, the columns stand as cliffs over talus … Continue reading…
Abel Tasman National Park lies at the north end of the South Island of New Zealand. It is not a large park, but it follows the coastline for 60 kilometers. The Abel Tasman Track brings hikers from all over the world to hike and camp along the golden beaches, granite headlands, and lush forests of the Park. We were originally … Continue reading…
We toured New Zealand and hiked as many trails as we could. Along the way, we visited some gardens (including Queenstown Gardens) and we spotted wildflowers during our hikes. We left at the start of winter and arrived in late spring in the Southern Hemisphere right in time for the start of the blooming season. Some of the protected coastal … Continue reading…
Every winter we snowshoe over to Clay Lake, then work our way through the forest to the open grasslands, passing Stony Lake on our way back. This journey on the snow is about 8 km, but our actual route varies each time. The whole route is outside of the McQueen Lake Environmental Center which meant that we had to cross … Continue reading…
Isthmus Peak stands between Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea in the Otago Region of the South Island of New Zealand. When we drove past this area from Haast Pass on our way to Wanaka, we saw the trailhead sign by the highway and stopped to look up at the barren, open mountain above. We returned the next day to hike … Continue reading…
Paparoa National Park is located on the northern part of the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand, about halfway between the towns of Westport and Greymouth. The small community of Punakaiki has a few services for visitors, but the whole area is very rugged and scenic. The prevailing winds come from the Tasman Sea to the west … Continue reading…
Punakaiki lies on the rugged (and somewhat remote) west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The beach and small community are surrounded by Paparoa National Park. We spent a couple of days in good weather at the beach, but also explored the trails, headlands, hills, and beaches of the area. We also hiked the trails of Paparoa … Continue reading…
We were in Utah hiking in April for the last 3 years and enjoyed the wildflower bloom each time. Some of the favorite photos were combined into a KamloopsTrails YouTube video:
Continue reading...The Cedar Mesa area in southeastern Utah is a remote area that has lots of good hiking/scrambling trails, canyons, and Ancestral Puebloan ruins to explore. Moonhouse Ruins is located on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, requiring a permit from the Kane Gulch Ranger Station (4 miles south of the junction of Highways 95 and 261). Bureau of Land Management … Continue reading…
The Banks Peninsula’s distinctive shape is the result of two extinct shield volcanoes with one of the walls collapsed to create a long bay (Akaroa Harbour) into the interior of the crater. The town of Akaroa lies on the shoreline deep in the middle of the crater. The rim of the volcano stands above the town in a high, rugged … Continue reading…
While on the South Island of New Zealand. we had hoped to take on a good hike in the Mt. Cook National Park area, but we had only a short time in our itinerary and the forecast was not promising, but we kept to our schedule and headed over the pass from Queenstown to Aoraki – Mt. Cook passing through … Continue reading…
