On a sunny August morning we got an early start to hike the Mara Trail, starting at the trailhead on the Tranquille – Criss Creek Road.     On a hot day, this is not a great choice for a later start.    There is no shade and the hills seem to bake in the afternoon sun.     Conditions were more moderate for us as we hiked a counter-clockwise loop up into the hills.

We climbed a series of hills up to a viewpoint which looks out to the Tranquille floodlands and the head of Kamloops Lake.

The dry, hot summer left these south-facing treeless slopes quite dry, except for sagebrush and bunchgrass.

This is a good trail with signage and graded ascents/descents.    there are options to lengthen the route, going up the Pruden Pass Track, or adding a loop over Tranquille Canyon.

For this day, we looped back to the double track and back to the start.

We chose this trail because we wanted to pick up a load of compost from Cinnamon Ridge.    We spent much of the rest of the day digging, hauling, and landscaping, putting in a new flowerbed.    It was a Mara + landcaping day.