An annual hike for late spring is a route to a viewpoint on the northeast side of Lac le Jeune Provincial Park.  There are cross country ski and snowshoe trails that can be used from Stake Lake, but we can hike to the Lookout from the Lac le Jeune area too.     From the Lac le Jeune Park Drive east Road, a Forest Service Road (Rossmoore FSR) branches off, heading east.    The backroad is in good shape for a few kilometers, but it then becomes more suitable for ATVs, snowmobiles, mountain bikes, and anyone exploring on foot.    A short distance along the road are pullouts for access to the southern end of the Stake Lake Trails.    One of several routes up to the Lookout is to park near the end of the the Rustler Trail and hike up that trail, then turn on one of three trails to the top of the ridge.   A favorite route is an unmarked trail 0.6 km up Rustler.    A single track winds up the hill and emerges onto an open south-facing plateau at the top of lava cliffs.

We have hiked, biked, cross country skied, and snowshoed to this spot over the years and we continue to return every year in late spring, but we vary the route each time to include some combination of double track and single track trails.    In winter we often snowshoe to the same spot from Stake Lake.   There are views to Lac le Jeune and the forested hills in 3 directions.    From a spot at the viewpoint, we can also see over to Rossmoore Lake, 3.5 km to the southeast.   On the way back two snowshoe trails were used to get to Rustler, then a loop over to Drifter to get back to the start.   It was a sunny and windy day before mosquito season on a rewarding route.

Provided here are some photos from the hike, in a Google Photos album slideshow.

More information:

• Google Photos album with captions (link) – Lac le Jeune Lookout Hike
• Lookout Hike (YouTube)
• Kamloops Trails – Lac le Jeune Lookout Hike