When the whole day is clear, we can travel to a trailhead to a destination hike, but for much of the week, we have a pocket of time and so we pick a local area hike for a 1.5 – 2.5 hour outing.    We have hundreds of routes, learned from exploring routes over decades.    A few are shared here.

Kenna Cartwright Park has many trails and we can combine them in different ways.    On a summer day we hiked the Big Pine Trail to the Lava Lookout Trail and returned on different trails for a partial loop route.   Click an image for a lightbox view and a caption.

on the trail going west

our route

Dufferin Ridge

the view toward Greenstone Mountain

the view to Kamloops Lake

Over all 4 seasons we drive up to Stake Lake to hike, paddle, and snowshoe in winter.     Again, there are many possible loops.    One of them is shared here.

Stake Lake

on the ski trails

a forest marsh

a loop route at Stake Lake

returning to the start area

We hike from Rose Hill Park in all 4 seasons too.    On an October morning I hiked a route which I have been doing for decades, but there are now new trails and fences.    This route was up the gully as far as I could go, then a scramble up the steep slopes and back down on bike trails.    I spotted a better route for the next time.

lower end of Joyce Gulch

heading up the gulch

coming down a bike trail

on a ridge above the gulch