In the heat of summer and weeks of smoky conditions, finding a reasonable hiking route became a daily review of forecasts.    By using weather apps like Environment Canada’s and another government app – FireSmoke.ca, I have been able to determine where the least smoke would be at any given time.    For this day, the smoke-free area was near Savona for a few hours.    I chose to hike up in the Six Mile Lakes area for a loop route around Pat Lake, then over to Morgan Lake.     

This area can be busier in spring since they are one of the first lakes to become ice free.    I paddled Pat Lake then and also hiked around the lake that day.   For this hot summer day I chose a similar route, but then followed the main track over to Morgan Lake.    the road up through the area was the former Trans Canada Highway which went around behind Six Mile Hill.    When a route was cleared through the bluffs overlooking Kamloops Lake was established the old route fell into disrepair and disuse, except for a few fishermen and ranchers.

There is a parking area at the end of Pat Lake.   I hiked clockwise around the lakeshore on a single track.     From years of drought the lake is down quite a bit, but there were still ducks, swallows, blackbirds, and killdeer on or around the lake.    When I arrived at Morgan Lake, it was also down a lot and it was quiet there too.  The whole hike was quiet, sunny, and out-of-the-smoke.  

Some photos of the hike are shared here in a Google Photos Album (embedded into this post):

More information:

• Pat Lake Thrice
• Six Mile Lakes Hike
• Hiking the Six Mile Lakes (YouTube)