At the start of March the trails at lower elevations in the Thompson River Valleys were mostly free of snow and mud.     One of the areas has multiple trails/routes off the end of McLeod – Uplands Roads in Barnhartvale.   Access starts from a small parking area to a gas line track which goes west below the steep slopes of Sunrise Mountain.    Single track trails branch off onto a sagebrush grasslands bench, with treed areas in the gullies    These trails wind around the deep gullies in an open area that had been burned in a grass fire years ago.   None of the trails are signed so it takes a few visits to learn to combine the trails into a loop.    For this day, I hiked two of the three loops that I usually hike.

The trail starts by going through the forest just above the gas line track.   We used to be able to hike along this track to an area below Juniper Ridge, but now there are two sections of private property on that route, so hikers and mountain bikers have to follow single tracks up through the hills to continue southwest.

Trails bear off to the right (north).   One goes down the gully for the start of a loop route and another one goes along the west rim of the gully for a different loop.

On the second loop, there are several viewpoints above the golf course, the trailer park, the highway, and the South Thompson River.

Above this benchland are a series of steep forested hills.  There are more rugged trails over the steep ridges, up through gullies, and with single tracks connecting to other routes in the Barnhartvale, Juniper Ridge, and Rose Hill areas.     Those routes are for best left for late spring, summer, and fall exploratory hiking.