All upslopes lead to the central peak of Kauai, but there a few outlier peaks too that rise 3000 – 4000 feet, all connected to Mt. Waialeale by ridges, but separated by gorges and pali (cliffs). Since the jungle/forest is impenetrable, trails from the coast to these peaks are very few. The exception are a small number of routes that … Continue reading…
Near the end of winter the winter snows turn to ice, then mud. We have to go higher to hike on the snow or we can walk on the low-altitude open beaches along the rivers or out at Cooney Bay. We chose to go past Tranquille on the river side of the property out to the Cooney Bay parking area, … Continue reading…
When the hills are blanketed in snow and the lower travels turn icy, we can still go to the shorelines of the river and walk on the long, wide, sandy beaches. Kamloops has about kms of beaches next to the North Thompson, the South Thompson, and the Thompson Rivers when the river recedes in winter. Most people go to the … Continue reading…
We have gone to the top of Sunset Mountain (3800 feet) from the Uplands area quite a few times and it is now part of our winter schedule to go along the track towards Juniper, then turn up the old double track heading south in the gully (Zilch Gulch). The whole route up and back is about 9.5 km and … Continue reading…
Lodestone Mountain is accessed from Coalmont. Drive into Coalmont and go south on the west side of the Tulameen River past Granite City, and follow the good road up the Granite Creek drainage all the way up to past the working Basin Coal Mine operation and then continue on to Blakeburn (at 6km), an old ghost town. Continue to climb … Continue reading…
Kauai is nicknamed “The Garden Isle.” Flowers, flowering shrubs, flowering trees, and luxuriant growth can be found everywhere. Public places, private homes, and roadways feature tropical landscaping. Flowering shrubs are used as borders. Hibiscus hedges grow 9 feet tall and can be hundreds of metres long. Feature gardens await visitors all over the island. The top of the island is … Continue reading…
The Navajo sandstone buttes, mesas, hills, and mountains of the southern Colorado Plateau are really hardened sand dunes, weathered into slickrock slopes awaiting our exploration. There are trails in canyons and washes, but to hike to higher elevations is often a scramble on a series of sandstone steps or slickrock ledges. The ledges are really just layers of sandstone, often … Continue reading…
The south face of Mount Mara clears of ice and snow early because it has a south-facing aspect. On a mid-February day, we chose to explore gullies and hills around the base and west flank of the mountain. We visited a cave, Face Rock, hoodoos, bighorn sheep trails, fossil-laden slopes, ridges, and ice-filled gullies. We encountered a herd of sheep … Continue reading…
High above the town of Coalmont sits the ghost town of Blakeburn. Coal was mined 6 kilometres up the Lodestone Mountain Road and the town grew to over 500 people at its peak. It had a school, tennis courts, an ice ink, a community hall, two churches, homes, livestock, a bunkhouse, a company store, roads, and an aerial tramway system … Continue reading…
Most of the posts on this site are from recent outings, but in mid-winter, I sometimes go back to fill in the gaps reporting on past hikes. Monument 83 is one of these. I ran from the trailhead to the top and back, a total of 32 km. The trailhead starts at the Monument 78/83 parking lot, which is east … Continue reading…
In the world of fungi there are many similar species, so it is best to start with the common names for groups of similar types. We call polypores shelf fungus or bracket fungus. They often grow on trees or stumps in horizontal bodies called conks. The semi-circular bodies can be quite hard and live for a long time. They are … Continue reading…
The Glacier Crest Trail is a steep hike up a forested slope to an open ridgetop that lies between the Sir Donald – Perley Rock Cirque and the Asulkan Valley. For much of the route, we usually wonder why we have chosen this trail, but once we get to the top, we remember. For this reason, only do … Continue reading…
One of our better snowshoeing areas starts at the Melba Lake trailhead. It was described in the article – Melba Lake Area (link). Our return trip was in mid-February on sunny, mild day. We followed the route that passes close to Melba Lake on our way towards Lodgepole Lake. We chose to loop through a cutblock and then worked our … Continue reading…
Many of us have hiked the Asulkan Trail which ends at the Asulkan (ACC) Hut. This is a favorite route and has been described before (Asulkan Trail – Sept. 2013). We have scrambled above the hut several times, but eventually we reach the ice and have to cross the glacier, but we know to go onto the ice only if … Continue reading…
Mount Wheeler is the middle mountain in a the north-south series (Opax, Wheeler, Mara) dividing the grasslands from the Tranquille River Valley. There are two main routes up and over the mountain, from Pruden Pass on the south side and from Lac du Bois on the northeast. We have run, biked, hiked, scrambled, and snowshoed on Wheeler, but for this … Continue reading…
There are so many good hiking trails in Glacier National Park that it is hard to choose which ones to do for each trip. The very “best trails list”, though includes Abbott Ridge, Asulkan, Hermit, and Balu Pass. Balu Pass is sometimes closed due to grizzly activity so check at the Ranger Station before heading out. The trail starts at … Continue reading…
