On a late spring day, we were camping at Herald Park and we decided to take a forest service road from Sunnybrae up Bastion Mountain.    The road was high-clearance for the first part, then 4WD for the rest.    We parked and hiked out to the viewpoint overlooking the Salmon Arm Bay on Shuswap Lake.    We then hiked over the top of the mountain on rough backroads to another viewpoint and back.

This was an exploration route.    The section to the south lookout was worth doing, but the trek across the mountaintop to the north side of the mountain was through logging cutblocks.     The double track had been decommissioned, so it couldn’t be driven and was not good hiking either.

Some photos from the viewpoints are shared here:

• views looking south to the lake with Salmon Arm farther south
• the view to the west looking up the valley toward Skimikin with the Fly Hills above
• views east to Shuswap Lake
• views to the Fly Hills
• Bastion Mountain from Canoe

 

 

Click any image to go to the album.

On another day I drove past White Lake and up the White Lake – Bastion Forest Service Road which climbed over the Shuswap Highlands and down to Bastion Bay, completing a complete loop around Bastion Mountain.    This was an exploratory 4WD route and not recommended for regular vehicles.