The Reinecker Creek Trails were featured on May 9th (link).  

We led a group from the Kamloops Hiking Club on these trails recently.   We started at the parking lot and hiked clockwise to the first bridge crossing, then followed the Lower East Trail, then down to the south Reinecker Creek Crossing and down the Lower West Reinecker Trail.  

We also did the smaller loop the next day which is a wider, more well-used trail with good views of the gorge,     The east side has a good lookout to the lake and campground below.   The small loop can be done in an hour, but many hikers will need to leave longer.   Since there is no direct view of Margaret Falls, hikers may wish to do the loop and then do the short hike up to the falls too.

The Lower East and West Trails are quite different.   The Lower East Trail is a fairly new single track that winds uphill along a ridge overlooking the creek valley.   It crosses gullies and a side stream before coming to the junction.    We enjoyed this trail.   We chose to turn left and then cross the creek on the bridge and come back on the other side.   The Lower West trails are really old and newer backroads, some of which go through logged areas.   It was not as scenic and we found the signs at the junctions to be a bit confusing.   Our GPS indicated a total round trip of 13km for the figure 8 route we followed.   We recommend these trails, but the east side trails are much nicer than the west side.    A recommended route is to start at the parking lot and follow the trail on the west side, but take the right fork and cross the creek to the east side, then follow the Lower East Side Trails to the junction.   If you have time do the Upper East side and loop back to the South Crossing, then follow the Lower East side trails all the way back, taking in the viewpoint near the end.   See the May 9th posting for a map.

Along the way, we saw many flowers in bloom and we enjoyed the cool cedar forests on a warm day.   Queens Cup, tiger lilies, bunchberry, and honeysuckle caught our eyes.  

A short series of video clips can be seen on You Tube:   Reinecker Creek Trails.