Jag Hill is the prominent ridge/hill on the southeast corner of the Red Plateau Escarpment. Ragged cliffs with spires and an arch stand above the Dewdrop Range. Access is from the Tranquille – Criss Creek Road. On this day I followed a single track used to get to Garden of the Trolls, then veered off to the rocky slopes below … Continue reading…
We stayed on Denman Island to hike and explore, but we also took a day trip over to Hornby Island to hike Helliwell Provincial Park and Tribune Bay Provincial Park. Our hike in Helliwell was a loop route that wound through old-growth forest to the St. John’s Point. All photos by the author. Click an image for a lightbox view. … Continue reading…
Every year we drive backroads to hike into Painted Bluffs Provincial Park. There are no trails, but there are sections of single tracks and some old grown-over double tracks that can be used, but the route involves going over hills and through gullies a rugged traverse bearing east to the edge of the park. We started on a known … Continue reading…
On a hot and smoky day we hiked on the Greenstone Trails. the trailhead is on the northeast corner of the mountain on the Greenstone Mountain Road. There is a network of trails there, a combination of old double tracks and single tracks used by mountain bikers. On a weekday morning, we were the only ones on the trails, hiking … Continue reading…
On a hot day we got an early start to hike a loop route in the hills. We followed Al Budreau (Kamloops Backcountry Hikes) who had developed a trail up and over Jag Hill. Al led us up the steep trail on the southeast side of Jag Hill, starting on the Tranquille Criss Creek Road. We hiked over the top … Continue reading…
Over the winter I purchased a folding kayak so that I could use a backpack to hike to hard-to-get-to-lakes with a kayak. The first lake for this adventure was Island Lake, a grasslands lake in the middle grasslands of Lac du Bois Protected Area. With the backpack on, i hiked from the trailhead to the lake on a faint single … Continue reading…
The Clearwater River Road goes from Clearwater up the Clearwater River (west side) all the way to the Mahood River. It is a bumpy 38.5 km gravel road, but it provides access to a number of scenic locations and some trails and routes to hike. km 5.4* – Entrance into Wells Gray Park km 8.1 – Trail to the Kettle … Continue reading…
On a mid-March sunny day I hiked from the Tranquille – Criss Creek Road across the sidehill (above the tracks) and up a series of ridges through the sagebrush grasslands. Each of the many ridges that run down to the lakeshore are separated by gullies, but there is a bench area above the gullies that traverses over to Battle Bluff. … Continue reading…
This winter we have had some of the lowest water levels in our rivers. There were many people hiking on Rabbit Island since the channel was very narrow and shallow. We went across to the island hiked around it, staying below the high water mark to avoid going onto private property (much of the island floods during freshet). Much of … Continue reading…
One of the first areas to clear of ice, snow, and then mud are the Valleyview benchlands. There are 5 areas that can be hiked. One of the least well-known areas is the Silt Cliffs Triangle bounded by Highland Drive, Owl Road, and Valleyview Drive. The easiest access is from Valleyview Arena. There are a number of double tracks, single … Continue reading…
In the second week of March we snowshoed through the Dogwood Marshes, then continued east, climbing the slopes of Hull Hill. The route is now stomped in so others may wish to try the 9 km return snowshoe route. Right below the summit is a small lake, which is where we stopped for lunch. Hull Hill is a rounded forested … Continue reading…
On a snowy winter day, I hike the Batchelor Hills, going up the Tower Trail and coming back down the Cows with Guns Trail. I hiked in a snow storm for the second half of the outing. All of the trail was in sagebrush grasslands. I hiked through the gap between the Tower Hill and Batchelor Hill to the saddle … Continue reading…
When the snows melt in late winter, the valley bottom clears off first and at the same time, the rivers are at their lowest flow. The Thompson River flows into Kamloops Lake, but there is also a large floodland area that has sandy islands in winter and in early spring. The river braids out in the delta area and in … Continue reading…
In winter we sometimes head out into the hills to look for old homesteads. These can be spotted on Google Earth and some planning may be required to find a reasonable route to the sites. On a cold winter day I followed snowmobile tracks on backroads up into the hills south of Kamloops. Using a GPS and a mapping app, … Continue reading…
From the trailhead parking area on the Lac le Jeune Road (near the Sugarloaf Road intersection), we hiked up mountain bike trails around Duffy Hill. We all wore traction devices (microspikes) and carried poles. Some sections are steep and slippery in winter, but we chose a winding route to the top. Some of the north-aspect slope is dense with douglas … Continue reading…
Stake Lake (Overlander Ski Club) has expanded its snowshoe trails and last year we did a loop along Cow Creek and Spruce Canyon, then up to Rattler Viewpoint , and back on a loop route around the lake. We snowshoed the same route this year, following the Cow Creek Trail through the lodgepole pines. The trail loops back into Spruce … Continue reading…
