On a cold and windy end-of-February day I hiked the west end of Kenna Cartwright Park. From the Pipeline at the end of Hillside Drive, a little-known trail bears west through the open forest. it is mainly used by dog walkers. It is a loop route on fairly level ground. If we follow it out to the fenceline, we can … Continue reading →
Long sections of the river beaches make good routes for hiking in the winter. We hiked down the Rivers Trail on Schubert Drive, then hiked back on the beach at the river’s edge. The ice was mostly gone by the end of the first week of March. Walking on the sand can be hard on the legs and feet so … Continue reading →
On a snowy cold day at the end of February, the chosen route was in Kenna Cartwright Park from the Home Depot Trailhead. there was no one on the the Reservoir Trail and as I climbed the Kinnikinik Trail, I was breaking trail on a steep snowy trail. From Kinnikinik, there were some short trail sections – Doc Findlay – … Continue reading →
On a cloudy February day we hiked a loop route in the Batchelor Trails from the main (middle) parking lot. We followed the access road, then hiked up the Tower Classic Trail, then the Naked Pistol Trail through the pass, and then came back on the Shady Glen Trail. The south-facing slopes were dry as we climbed up the pass … Continue reading →
On a colder February day we started a snowshoe route from Lodgepole Lake. We followed the Chuwhels Mountain Road, then set a track along the shoreline of the Lower Pond. The Lower Pond was still frozen. We followed an old track, but also spotted a moose track and tracks from both coyote and deer. From the end of the pond … Continue reading →
By the end of the first week of February, the lower south-facing slopes of the Batchelor Hills were dry and quite good for winter hiking. The area has been used for hiking for a long time, but over the last decade additional single track trails have been added for mountain biking. These trails are now signed and maintained by KBRA, … Continue reading →
On a snowy and windy winter day the hike was up Peterson Creek from the lower entrance, then an informal route up the canyon to the waterfall. Usually the route is all ice in February, but the mild weather resulted in a hike that could be done in hiking boots, with no cleats. The end of the trail was very … Continue reading →
When cold weather took old of the Interior, I still got out every day. I kept the hikes to one hour, I wore lots of layers, and I used microspikes on my hiking boots. When it was -24 with a cold breeze, the wind chill was – 36. I hiked various routes in Peterson Creek over a week. In … Continue reading →
When the conditions became cold, I wore layers to stay warm when I went our hiking. The only thing exposed was my nose, but I carried a balaclava, just in case. In the coldest conditions I kept the hikes to an hour (+/- 15 minutes) One of the hike on the cold days was over the hills in … Continue reading →
The benchlands below Rose Hill and the west end of Juniper Ridge have long sloped ridges cut by gullies. The lands were once under Glacial Lake Kamloops. The ridges are consolidated silts, soft and prone to erosion. Sinkholes dot the landscape. There are some recent access roads for the upgraded powerlines that traverse the area. Access from above follows these … Continue reading →
Mild winter weather allowed for good conditions for hiking local trails. Normally there would be a season of “snow stomping”, hiking carefully on snowy trails, sometimes wearing micro-spikes (cleats) on hiking boots. At the end of December I hiked the hills on the east side of Kenna Cartwright Park, on and off the Doc Findlay Trail, starting at the trailhead … Continue reading →
We had mild weather over the Christmas period and we were able to hike the trail on the west side of Kenna Cartwright Park, choosing our trails to avoid muddy conditions. We chose Tower > Ponderosa > Big Pine and found relatively dry trails. We worked our way over to the Lava Lookout Trail. We explored the 40 million year … Continue reading →
In early January we finally had enough snow to snowshoe at higher elevations. We chose to do the Stake Lake Trails for our first venture. The depth of the snow was sufficient to snowshoe, but there were still lots of hazards below the snow since the snowpack hadn’t yet set up (consolidated). We were out for about 2 hours on … Continue reading →
A favorite loop route to hike in any season is in the Balancing Rock Hills. The main feature is Balancing Rock which stands on a sidehill of a gully leading down to Kamloops Lake. The hike to the first viewpoint is about 1 km. The pillar has a different look from each side, so it is worth the hike … Continue reading →
December saw little snowfall and the temperatures were mild so hiking season continued on. In most of our years we have had to do some “snow stomps”, hiking in snow, sometimes with traction devices, then we shift over to snowshoeing once the snow becomes deeper. This year we kept hiking the lower elevation trails. On this day, we hiked the … Continue reading →
We hiked both sides of the canyon in Peterson Creek Park before the first snowfall in a loop route, staying close to the rim. A few images are shared here. All photos by the author. Click an image for a lightbox view and a caption. A short Tik Tok video also shows some moments from the hike: … Continue reading →
