All of New Zealand lies in the Pacific Ring of Fire. The Taupo Volcanic Zone extends from the Bay of Plenty (White Island) down to the Mt. Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park. We traveled all down this corridor (it is 350km long by 50km wide) on walks and hikes. It is still an active area with recent eruptions near Mt. … Continue reading…
The Bush Lake area is an informal area of routes through the high country forest. There is one flagged “trail” on the north end of the trails and there are another 8 km of routes on the south side. Right across the road are the Dogwood Marshes. All of the routes can be snowshoed from one parking lot on the … Continue reading…
Sometimes when we travel we find beautiful places quite by accident. We arrived in New Zealand tired from the long journey, but we still managed to drive over to Rotorua (a city of 58 000 on the North Island). It was raining when we arrived so we went to our booked holiday park for a rest, to shop for supplies, … Continue reading…
The Dogwood Marshes are a large bowl-shaped area near the Bush Lakes parking lot on the Lac le Jeune Road. There is grazing fence around these Crown lands, but a section of the fence has been removed for winter snowshoeing. Drive up the Lac le Jeune Road and turn into the Bush Lakes parking area on the left. Go through … Continue reading…
New Zealand has embraced hiking and backpacking fully, to our great delight. The Department of Conservation (DOC) has developed and maintained many tracks on Crown land and in National Parks. There are a few tracks that cross private lands too. A total of 950 huts service these tracks and there is a whole tourist industry that supports visitors who … Continue reading…
At the end of 2015, Kamloops Trails pauses to look back and also to look ahead. 2015 Just a few days ago, Kamloops Trails achieved a milestone – 1000 articles published. Earlier in the month, the Number of Site Visits (meter at the bottom of the site) passed the 3 000 000 mark. The year started slowly because of major … Continue reading…
In the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, we can follow the Park road north 6.6 miles from the Visitor’s Center to the end of the road. There are 3 hiking trails off this road in the Needles North area – the Slickrock Foot Trail, Pothole Point, and the Confluence Overlook. The Slickrock Foot Trail is a 2.4 mile … Continue reading…
Queen Charlotte Sound in B.C. is the body of water between the end of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwai (Queen Charlotte Islands). In New Zealand, there is another Queen Charlotte Sound that is part of a series of sounds (sort of drowned river valleys) that extend inland at the north end of the South Island, protected from the prevailing winds … Continue reading…
Kodachrome Basin State Park lies about an hour east of Bryce Canyon a few miles out of Cannonville off Highway 12 in Utah. We came from Grand Staircase – Escalante and spent the day in the park. The paved road goes through the Ranger (fee) Station up to a campground. Along the way are parking areas and trailheads. We hiked … Continue reading…
We have hiked the 12.6 km Roche Lake loop a few times and biked it once, taking some photos each time, in June 2014 (link), October 2013 (link), and November 2015. On our last hike, there was snow on the ground, ice on the lakes, and hail in the air, but it was still a very nice hike past the … Continue reading…
The best backpack and hike of 2015 was the 4 day hike down Upper Salt Creek Canyon in Canyonlands National Park. The route starts in a remote spot outside the park at Cathedral Butte. The 17 mile backroad to the trailhead is a good one. The parking area is signed and the hike starts at 7000 feet, but drops quickly … Continue reading…
The North Thompson River’s source is Thompson Glacier on the southern slopes of Trigon Mountain on the edge of the Premier’s Range and for 355 km it runs downstream to Kamloops where it merges with the South Thompson River to become the Thompson River. Along the way are a number of landmarks, the subject of this article. The Source Peaks … Continue reading…
I explored and hiked the Napier Ranch Conservancy (link) in spring (link to the story), then again in the fall, taking photos each time. Thanks to the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Jackson Family for preservation of these grasslands.
Continue reading...Natural Bridges National Monument is in Cedar Mesa country in Southeastern Utah. The park sits at 6500 feet and is cut by two deep canyons. Three massive stone bridges span the canyons. [map style=”width: auto; height:400px; margin:20px 0px 20px 0px; border: 1px solid black;” gpx=”https://kamloopstrails.net/wp-content/uploads/Natural Bridges.gpx” elevation=”no”] The road into the park passes the Visitors Center then a nice campground, … Continue reading…
In the off-season and on rainy days, we look for open trails and many of these have remnants of the pine beetle kill still standing. The Mesa Trail and the ridge to the east (Lava Flow Trail) have a number of standing dead ponderosa pines, all doomed to be windfall. The douglas firs are still standing and few young ponderosas … Continue reading…
Once you find yourself at the right elevation on the Colorado Plateau, every direction is an outdoor playground. While hiking in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, I spent a few nights hiking and camping. The National Park Campground was always full so I found camping spots outside the park. The Lockhart Basin Road is only a few miles … Continue reading…
