Six Mile Hills Loop
The Six Mile Hills are above Kamloops Lake on the south side of the Trans Canada Highway. The area near the lookout is now Six Mile Protected Area. We hiked the ridges that run down to the gullies adjacent over to Tobiano last year (link). The hills above are grazing lands, a combination of private lands with public access roads to the lakes, leased lands and some public lands. It is mainly used by ranchers and fishermen but hikers can access the routes too, showing respect for grazing cattle, fences, and gates and practicing leave-no-trace hiking. There are no designated trails, but there are some tracks that can be combined to make a loop route through the hills.
Whatever route we choose, we try to include an off-trail route to the highest point on Six Mile Hill for the wide views it provides.
As the rivers rise, they bring silts downstream, especially from the Tranquille River and the North Thompson River.
From this spot, Painted Bluffs Provincial Park is only 5 km across the lake.
In late April there were many seasonal ponds and marshes along the loop route.
Our route took us down to the shores of Morgan Lake. We used to call it The Slough until it was dammed, raising the waters into a longer lake, stocked with rainbow trout. It is a catch-and-release fishing lake, no bait, and no ice fishing. .
Along the way we spotted eagles, ospreys, grasslands birds. and western painted turtles.
 sandhill cranes migrating |
 western painted turtles sunning |
The hills of the area are rocky with open forests. Tracks wind among the hills and water collects in the low points.
The loop brought us back to the shores of Pat Lake (sometimes called Six Mile Lake). It is one of the first lakes to clear of ice in the spring so it is well-used at this time of year. We followed the shoreline back to where we parked, completing an 8 km loop.
We love this area with its rocky hills, ponds, open forests, lakes, and wide viewpoints and so we try to return for a spring and fall hike each year.
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