Category Archives: Exploring

Hiking, paddling, and exploring the hills, grasslands, mountains, and waterways of the Kamloops area and the Interior Plateau.

Mud Lake Hike

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Mud Lake is a small marshy lake in the hills between McQueen Lake and Opax Mountain.   The tracks that lead to Mud Lake and around the lake are restricted to non-motorized use and somewhat grown-over.     I had been in to Mud Lake a number of times and I had explored several of the tracks branching off, but I had never worked out a loop route around the lake.   On this recent hike, I had a few clues provided from geocaches so I hiked the route, found the geocaches and explored some new routes.    I made one wrong turn and had to backtrack, but overall the route worked, but I spotted a shorter possible route which did not climb all the way up to the Opax Mountain Road, but that will wait for another day.    With all the exploration, the hike took a few hours, but now that I know the way, it can be done in about 4.5 km of hiking.   

Some navigation is required along the way. I used a GPS and a phone app to find the geocaches and to find the right routes around the lake. For many hikers a route to the shores of Mud Lake, then along the lakeshore and back will be an easier choice. At the southern end of Mud Lake are the remains of an old homestead. Jong Jung built a cabin there in 1913. The first time I saw the spot in about 1978, the cabin was collapsed. All that remains now are a lot of boards, an old stove, some sheet metal, and some old cans. Even though this is a marshy lake, I spotted loons on the lake. It is quiet and secluded scenic spot, although I would avoid bug season. I have snowshoed in to the area mid-winter and I hope to set a track over the loop in the upcoming snow season.

The route around the lake is only for explorers.    It is all on old grown-in tracks through the forest.   Shared here are some photos of the loop route around Mud Lake.    Click the link on any photo to go to the album with captions or scroll through the embedded slideshow in this post.

Surrey and Sussex Lakes

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The Surrey Lake Forest Service Road starts as a turn off the Meadow Creek Road (between Lac le Jeune and Logan Lake).    It is a gravel road bearing south, climbing up through the forest.     After 7 km it passes under the Coquihalla Highway.     It provides access to several lakes in the area – Surrey Lake, Frogmoore Lake, and Sussex Lake.   The Surrey Lake … Continue reading →

Alexandra Bridge

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We went down the Fraser Canyon for a hiking tour, hiking the Stein River in the morning, overnighting in Boston Bar, then stopping to hike the trail down to and across the Alexandra Bridge.    In the afternoon we drove to Hope then hiked the Thacker Mountain Trail. Alexandra Bridge Provincial Park has no vehicle access (parking) in winter and was not scheduled to open until … Continue reading →

Along the Clearwater River Road

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The Clearwater River Road runs from a junction on the west side of Clearwater up the river to the confluence with the Mahood River, a total of 38.5 kms.  It is an old logging road, always bumpy and frequently closed.    At this time it is open for only 11 km, just past the Kettle.    It is now mostly used for fishing, whitewater rafting, and … Continue reading →

Ladner Creek Trestle

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The Kettle Valley Railway was built between 1910 and 1915.    By 1916 trains were hauling freight, connecting the Kootenays with the CPR at Hope, with a number of side branches to mines and other communities.    A number of challenges were met by Chief Engineer Andrew McCullough to keep the railway grade reasonable through mountainous terrain.   The railway lines were closed in 1961, and now … Continue reading →

Mahood Lake Hikes

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We have been to Mahood Lake a few times, driving Highway 24 west from Little Fort, then on backroads to Canim Lake,  and then down to the campsite on the east side of Mahood Lake.   We have base-camped there to hike trails, and on other occasions, we have paddled across the lake to camp at the far end.   From the Provincial Park Campground are a number … Continue reading →

Lac du Bois Hills Exploration

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On a hot summer day the plan was to explore a route to try to link up two old tracks, going around two hills on the north side of Lac du Bois.     On previous explorations  routes were taken that went over the top of the hills and another time I gone cross country around the hills, but for this time I was hoping to link … Continue reading →

Isobel Hills Routes

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On a summer morning I chose to explore some old tracks and some newer trails on the south and southeast side of Isobel Lake.    Some of these were used by ranchers and may have been occasionally used by cross country skiers, but in more recent years by Fat Tire Bikers and snowshoers.    In addition to the tracks and trails shown here, there are some … Continue reading →

High Bar Road

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We have explored Marble Range Provincial Park quite a few times and we have camped at Big Bar Lake a few times too.    Many of the days were out from Kamloops to hike one of the peaks as a day trip, but when we stayed at the Provincial Park Campsite on the lake, we explored backroads too, west to Big Bar Ferry, north to the … Continue reading →