The fires of 2003 turned much of Strawberry Hill into a burned landscape. We were crossing the Bonaparte Highlands during the first part of the fire and saw the mushroom cloud on our east horizon. When we got home, we watched it from the south. When you go up to the plateau now, you may be surprised by how many … Continue reading…
Hiking on Kauai has many variations – ridges, beaches, jungle, volcanic cones, sinkholes, pali (cliffs), scrambles, and shoreline walks. There are hundreds of hiking locations and until you do a hike, you can't be sure what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised by a hike at the end of a minor road down to an idyllic area – Moloa'a Bay. … Continue reading…
On the southeast coast of Kauai is a shelf of lava that reaches out into the windward shores where sand dunes have built up for millions of years. The dunes are lithified and shaped by wind, sun, and surf. Within this sits the Makauwahi Cave, a large sinkhole and tunnel system. The cave is dated to be … Continue reading…
A few years ago, we backpacked to Garibaldi Lake, camping at the Battleship Islands campground and hiking the trails above the meadows. We took a number of photos along the way. Near our campsite, the view was spectacular. Hiking with an artist is a different experience. David Langevin is a well-know painter who lives in Kamloops. From the same view, … Continue reading…
Shuswap Trail Alliance has had 7 years of success in promoting, planning, developing, and maintaining trails (link). We have often remarked that this kind of initiative should also be seen in the Kamloops area. The first steps toward this goal were started this week. A group met to start the first steps. The initial group included the City of Kamloops, … Continue reading…
We have been hiking these trails for over 30 years and many of the trails are the same, though mountain bikes have made new trails and widened others. There has also been new building above on Juniper and a new home in the south central area with fences blocking the traditional trails. At the eastern end there are some fences … Continue reading…
There are many trails between the Coquihalla Highway and Greenstone-Chuwhels Mountains, but there is so much terrain, it is hard to link the trails and routes. The Greater Kamloops Motorcycle Association (GKMA) has explored the area on ATVs and motorcycles and has set up route signs along various trails, but has not provided maps to anyone wanting to ATV, hike, … Continue reading…
The Lyons Lake trail is a pleasant forest walk along a double track on a fairly level route to a grasslands forest at the end of Sullivan Valley. On a winter day, I trudged along this path in wet conditions, enjoying the quiet of a gully track between hills. The trailhead is near the Heffley Dump. Drive east towards Sun … Continue reading…
The Valleyview Silt Cliffs separate Juniper from Valleyview. A number of trails go up the gullies, ridges, and across the treeless benchlands. Hiking or biking across this area means going up and down, and skirting steep silt cliffs to the heads of gullies. A number of narrow clay bridges provide access across the tops of the gullies, and behind the … Continue reading…
There are so many good hikes in the Sedona (Arizona) area, and many of them link together. A number of the trails through passes, going around the steep red sandstone monuments of the area. One such route uses Soldier Pass to go over the top of Bryns Mesa in a loop route. This was the sign at the trailhead: This … Continue reading…
We hiked as many trails as we could in the Sedona area and we found Cathedral Rock to be one of the most interesting. From the parking lot to the end of the "trail" is only 0.7 miles, but almost all of it is up steep slickrock. This is the sign at the trailhead: The route follows cairns up for … Continue reading…
As the winter snows cover all of our trails, we shorten our hikes, we put on cross country skis or snowshoes,and we plan ahead for our spring hikes. We have also chosen to travel in the shoulder season to locations where good hiking can be found in later February through late March. On Spring Break we traveled to Sedona in … Continue reading…
We were up in the hills past Cooney Bay exploring fossil beds. Most of our previous activity had been in the long gullies closer to Cooney Bay. We have found fossils there, but the area had been picked over and it took some digging to find new fossils. On a winter day with no snow on south-facing slopes, … Continue reading…
Barnhartvale is separated from Kamloops by an steep-sided mountain which local residents refer to as Sunrise Mountain, but is really a series of hills between Juniper and Barnhartvale. A few trails penetrate through the gullies to the hilltops. All the direct routes are steep. Access to the hilltops from the south and west are long, round-about routes. The north side … Continue reading…
There is a maze of old roads and ATV tracks in the hills west of the Coquihalla Highway and below the flanks of Greenstone Mountain. The trails also extend north towards Chuwhels Mountain. For the sake of clarity, we will call the northern end of this area the Outer Inks Lakes Trails. The Greater Kamloops Motorcycle has a number of … Continue reading…
Opax is the steep and wide mountain between Lac du Bois, Pass Lake, and Tranquille Canyon. There are three good routes to the top and they can be combined into a loop route. In the winter, though, the route from the east provides the easiest access. In each of the last three winters, we have trudged in the snow to … Continue reading…