Two little-known spots in the Dewdrop-Red Plateau area are rewarding locations that can be linked in a single hike.

Red Canyon is an easy hike deep into the a canyon in the Red Plateau escarpment.   To find the canyon, park at the Dewdrop Trail parking area and follow the route along the fence.  When you arrive at the stile which crosses the fence, bear left to follow an old double track.   As the route enters the forest, follow the washout stream bed.

Along the route, look for white and green agates and clear chalcedony.   If you are looking for geodes or larger chunks, go up either side slope.   Some deadfall has blocked the best path up the stream bed, so you may have to go through the forest now and then.   The route narrows and the walls of the escarement loom overhead.   The route steepens and hikers can pick their own turn-raound spot.   It is possible to scramble up the canyon farther, but the route will be too challenging for most people.   It will offer some better views of the towering reddish lava cliffs, caves, and towers above.

Next, follow your tracks back out all the way to the fenceline.    Cross the sile and continue up the Dewdrop Trail.   Keep an eye on the hills to the east.   After climbing a steep section, notice how the trail is at the same height as the hills going southeast (at about N50 45.200 W120 33.200).   Climb an easy hill and traverse over to the plateau area.   We were able to follow a good game trail.   Keep your eyes sharp for the first grand boulder on the hillside (at N50 45.184 W120 33.132) just above the game trail.   Continue southeast following the easiest route.   Under the sheer slopes above, you will quietly come into Garden of the Trolls.   This gentle slope is an area with some very large, shaped and pocketed boulders standing in the forest, eerie and unexpected.

Take some time to walk among the boulders and find one to climb for the view to the hills above.   The route back is your choice – retrace your steps, or you can angle over the hill and down the open slopes back the car.   The whole route is about 5km, with about half off-trail.  But we don’t want a trail in.   Go quietly, leaving no trace; taking nothing but photos.