The Dewdrop Range is a benchland of grassland hills with open-forested gullies on the north side of Kamloops Lake.   From Tranquille, we follow the Red Lake (Tranquille-Criss Creek) Road up the hill and at the hairpin turn, we turn left onto the Dewdrop (Frederick) Road.   For hikers and mountain bikers, the Dewdrop Trail climbs north to the top of the Red Plateau Escarpment, the Battle Bluff Trail crosses the ridge and descends south down to the north side of Battle Bluff, and there are numerous potential routes for hiking, wandering, biking, and exploring all the way to Peregrine Bluffs, 10 km west of the main area,   One of our favorite routes is to park at the first pullout on the road, park, head south, then climb the ridge overlooking Kamloops Lake.

There is no trail, but the ridge is mostly open to the top.   At the top on the eastern end of the ridge is a fine viewpoint overlooking the Thompson River Valley.

We follow the rim, enjoying the views below and above  as we walk across the top of the ridge, going west.   Cooney Bay has a full beach in March, but it will be underwater during freshet.

As we hike west, we pass above Battle Bluff.   We are standing on top of basalt bluffs overlooking the bench below.

Our route does not take us to Battle Bluff but as we continue along the ridge we get different views of this landmark on Kamloops Lake.

The route stays on the top of the first ridge, but we have to go down and back up to stay on top of a series of ridges running east-west.   The gullies have douglas firs in them, but it is still open forest.   Most of the ponderosa pines have been killed by the pine beetle invasion.   Some still stand as snags, but many cover the grassland hills, making us wind through the windfall maze.

At the west end, we can pick up a double track which takes us all the way to a fenceline, then up to the Frederick Road, a route of about 6km.   We dropped a vehicle off to allow a one way hike (recommended).

Although there is a bit of track for the final part, the rest is off-trail, but the general rule for navigation is to hike to the top of the ridge, then stay on top as the route rambles west.   A Trackless Way, but a fine one in any season.

• Another article on this site – The Trackless Way
• Start – N50 44.528 W120 33.051
• Finish – N50 45.025 W120 35.604