Early in spring the lower altitude open slopes dry out first so we often choose the Lower Rose Trails.    It is a benchland cut by gullies, but there are some informal double tracks and single tracks that can be combined to create a loop route.   On this mid-March day, we hiked 6.2 km on a sunny, cool morning.

We started just below the road into the trailer park and followed double tracks up the slopes.   At one point we had a view down to the trailer park, but also up the North Thompson River Valley.

The benchland has very few trees (a few can be found in gullies).   it is a sagebrush and grassland ecosystem.   Wildflowers emerge in April and May.

A few sagebrush buttercups had appeared in mid-March.

The loop route has to go through gullies, but the descent and ascent is less at the top of the bench.   Farther down silt cliffs make traversing gullies more difficult, but single tracks often go down gullies, made mostly be deer and mountain bikers.

We traversed under the upper Rose Hill area at the slope break, and at the east end came close to the Owl Road landfill, so we turned down the slopes following old tracks to the south side of a row of homes in Valleyview.   A good double track bears east-west through the Lower Rose area, that took us back to the trailhead.

There are no signs to help hikers, but it is open so some exploration will lead to knowing some routes for the future.   More information can be found on a Kamloops Trails page – Lower Rose Trails.