As snowshoeing expands, we see more and more people looking for good snowshoe routes in our area. One of the best is Hanging Valley. Park at Lac du Bois and go through the orange gate on the north side of the lake. This gate was installed by the Nature Conservancy of Canada to keep motorized vehicles out of the grasslands … Continue reading…
This is the third article on the Bush Lake Trails detailing access and routes for snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and hiking. Links to the two previous articles are provided here: Bush Lake Trails Bush Lake (North) Loop The parking area is the same for all routes (N50 32.418 W120 26.776), at a designated parking area just off the Lac le … Continue reading…
A recent article (link) provided details about access to the Bush Lake Trails. Further exploration north and south is an ongoing process, taking several days of on-snow time. On the north side is a good 6 km loop, suitable for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and hiking. Follow the main route around the north side of Bush Lake, then a north-heading double … Continue reading…
When Kamloops was awarded the first BC Winter Games, organizers had to develop a cross country ski facility for the competitions. Working with the Ministry of Forests, the Bush-Timber Lake Trails were built and then used as a venue for the 1979 Winter Games. Cross-country skiers continued to use the trails right up to 1985 when the Coquihalla Highway was … Continue reading…
An old double track goes south from Lac du Bois just below the treeline of Wheeler Mountain and works its way across the upper grasslands hills before descending to the lower grasslands. At the 3.75km mark, the trail starts to drop, so we go through the fence/cattleguard and climb the hill on the left to gain a fine viewpoint over … Continue reading…
In November, we hike in the local hills of the area, staying at lower elevations while the snowfall builds up at higher elevations. This month we have hiked in the Abbey Road Hills, the Outer Inks Trails, three routes in the Lac du Bois Grasslands, the Barren Hills, Valleyview Silt Cliffs, Sugarloaf Hill, Ironmask Hills, Opax Hill, Joyce Gulch, and … Continue reading…
The 500th article was published to this site. At the same time, about 920 000 separate visits were logged. Then the database was inadvertently wrecked and the site went down for two days. I wasn't sure it could be recovered, but I got some technical help and once I could get into the backend, I have been doing some additional … Continue reading…
A post told with photos. Snow blankets the grasslands: Lakes and ponds are frozen and snow-covered flat spaces: Wind and sun sculpt the snow banks. A few stunted trees stand alone. Drfits on north slopes will last into spring. We leave a few tracks in the snow, eventually to be erased by the melting snows.
Continue reading...The Lac du Bois Grasslands provide many opportunities for winter exploration. A parking lot is established on the east side of the Lac du Bois Road (at N50 46.612 W120 25.903). about 8.6 km past the cattleguard. A series of kiosks can now be found along the trail into the central bowl of ponds, grasslands and glaciated hills. In spring … Continue reading…
The Bushwacker Trail was first established when the Stake Lake Trail system was built following the decision to run the Coquihalla Highway through the existing Bush Lake-Timber Lake trails, which had been earlier built for the 1979 BC Winter Games. Bushwacker was added when the Sidewinder Trail crossed a high shoulder of McConnell Hill. It was always considered to be … Continue reading…
Iago Mountain stands to the west of the Coquihalla Summit area. It is really a horseshoe-shaped peak at the headwaters of the Anderson River and Boston Bar Creek. The summit is at the northeast end of the horseshoe, overlooking the Coquihalla Highway to the south, but it is also surrounded by the peaks of the Summit area – Needle Peak, … Continue reading…
Sunset Hill is the highest of the three hills that make up Middle Mountain which stands high above Barnhartvale. The trail up Sunrise Mountain is one of our favorite ridge climbs worth the steep climb because of the great views. In the late fall, we went up Sunrise Mountain, then traversed west over to Sunset Hill, scouting it out for … Continue reading…
The trails out to Ross Moore Lake are becoming grown-in over the last 40 years. Back in the 1970’s, there was a cross-country ski race (loppet) along this track. It was wider then and there were no trees down along the route. We followed the 6.75 km trail from the end of Lac Le Jeune Drive through the forest … Continue reading…
Hanging Valley is a fairly level, but longer snowshoe in a quiet part of Lac ud Bois Provincial Protected Area/Nature Conservancy Lands. The route starts at Lc du Bois and follows the north shore track to the west end of the lake. A double track goes through a gap between hills into a long back valley. Hanging Valley runs from … Continue reading…
We have climbed Opax Mountain in the winter now for a few years. The route is a good one and the views are outstanding. It is a demanding winter trek for most people, but a rewarding one too. The route is 10km return on the snow with 357m elevation gain. Opax can be a confusing mountain to navigate, but anyone … Continue reading…
We were pleasantly surprised by the trails above Buse Creek. We followed both snowshoe tracks and cross country ski tracks along backroads and side roads and created a loop. We had explored these trails before on our way over to Bestwick Hill. There is really a network of backroads on this gentle sidehill. There are also some fences and gates, … Continue reading…
