Category Archives: Hikes

Hiking every day.

Thompson River Estuary Hike

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On a grey day with a chance of rain in fourth week of February, I drove to Tranquille and parked at the gate.    I then took a rough path down to the wetlands area and wound my way out to the Estuary area.    From there I followed the shoreline downstream, sometimes hiking on the shoreline, sometimes, crossing channels at narrow spots, sometimes on sand-silt islands, and sometimes on rocky beaches.   The route was out to the sandy point where Cooney Bay starts, then back on the road.

Various channels wind down from the hills to the river, but there are usually a way to the other side at narrows.

This is a scenic route.    There is no established trails, but sections of paths can be seen on the shoreline or hikers can be more adventurous, crossing over to sand-silt islands.    At Cooney Bay there are some footworn paths out to the lakeshore.    I returned on the bumpy road on foot back to the start.

Shared here is a Google Photos Album with captions at this link – Thompson River Estuary Hike

The same album can also be seen as an embedded slideshow (without captions):

 

Deep Lake Hike

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On a cool February day we hiked up trails in the Deep Lake area to a hill above the lake.    The Deep Lake Outer Loop winds up sagebrush grasslands and open forested slopes to the Grasslands Community Trail on a benchland southwest of the lake, then comes to a junction just south of the lake.    We though that the outer loop route would be icy on the north side of the hill, so we went to the top of the hill for the view instead. A single track trail has some steeper sections as it climbs to the open grasslands. At 2.3 km we arrived at a point above Deep Lake.    Trails continue around the lake, but … Continue reading →

Around Batchelor Hill

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As winter retreated, the south-facing lower hills dried out.    By  the end of the first week of February, the open grasslands benchlands and hills had damp trails, but not much mud.    We hiked from a trailhead on the southeast corner of Batchelor Hill onto a combination of double tracks and single tracks going west.     The route continued on trails in a large clockwise loop around Batchelor Hill. An old double track winds through sagebrush grassland hills for about half of the route. On the northwest side of Tower Hill is a track which goes through a wet meadow that I have been calling Batchelor Pass for decades.    Mountain bikers call this trail Kow a Been Here. … Continue reading →

Cooney Bay Winter Hike

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On a cool and greyish day at the end of January I drove to Cooney Bay to hike along the beach and up the bluffs.    the road was very bumpy with deep puddles, but with slow driving I arrived at the parking area.     My hike was along the shoreline on sandy, then gravel, and then rocky shingle along the lakefront.    Tranquille River was frozen over with water running under the ice making the crossing difficult.    I got my feet wet going both ways. There was a steady wind out of the southeast, but there were geese and ducks on the water.    The shoreline is sandy near the outlet of the Thompson River, but size of … Continue reading →

Hiking the Winter Beaches – The Confluence

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When trail conditions in the hills becomes too muddy, slushy, or icy, hiking at the bottom of the valley is much more appealing.    Routes on gravel, sand, or pavement will leave our boots dry and the risk of slips/falls is greatly reduced.   Many walkers use the paved sections of the Rivers Trail and McArthur Island.    Another choice for hikers is to hike the winter beaches – Airport Beach, West Beaches, the Confluence Beach, Mission Flats Beach, the dike and beach in Westsyde, Cooney Bay, and other riverside routes.    On a mild mid-winter day I chose to hike the Confluence Loop from Overlander Park.    This is a 3.1 km route taking about an hour. There was no … Continue reading →

Dogwood Marshes Spike Hike

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On a cold winter day we left the valley fog to hike in the Dogwood Marshes area.    The skies were a mix of sun and clouds and there was a rime frost on all of the trees.   With these hard-packed trails, we wore our hiking boots with microspikes attached, and we stomped our way along a series of trails in the high country forests. The red-osier dogwoods were coated in frost as we wound our way south through the Anderson Creek dogwood marshes. We followed trails up to mixed forests, then into aspen groves, and up to Douglas fir forests.   Some of the trails are marked with flagging tapes and signs, and some are user-made trails, so the best … Continue reading →

Clay Lake on the Snow

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Near the end of December right before the more snow blanketed the hills, I went for a hike in the upper grasslands near McQueen Lake.   The route went into the forest on the edge of the McQueen Lake property, then around the end of Clay Lake, then looped through the forest and back through the grasslands.    I had hiked in the area another time not long before so both routes are shown here. Clay Lake was frozen and topped with a layer of snow. It was quiet in the area and there were very few footprints, except for deer tracks crossing my route.   Since I knew the area well, i visited 3 different homesteads, now abandoned for over 100 … Continue reading →

Peterson Creek Hills Hike

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On the second day of winter it was a cool, but sunny morning.    We arrived in the morning for a 3-hour hike through the Peterson Creek hills.   We started at the lower trailhead and hiked upstream to the canyon, then crossed the creek and climbed the west side of the hill, working our way to the rim, then uphill to the Tom Moore Trail.   We dropped back down to cross the creek, then followed a single track on the East Rim Trail.    Our hiking club leader took us on a series of winding trails up Tower Hill and back by different trails to the rim of the canyon.    We finished the hike by coming down the east … Continue reading →

Mission Flats Winter Beach Hike

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When we have milder temperatures near the start of winter, then again in late winter, the snow in the valley bottom melts.    The sandy-silty shoreline is quite porous so the meltwater does not result in mud.    There are a number of winter beach hikes along the shores of the Thompson River, the South Thompson River, and the North Thompson River to enjoy.     One of the the hikes is along the beaches of Mission Flats on the south side of the Thompson River.    The beaches are widest near the mill, but we usually start our hike closer to the Waste Disposal area, at the west end of the beaches.    We hiked there twice doing different routes.  … Continue reading →

Sugarloaf Hill Hike

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On a greyish mid-November morning I returned for my annual hike to the top of Sugarloaf Hill.    I started on Sugarloaf Road and followed a double track as it wound past a dry pond, then out near the Coquihalla Highway.   At a junction, I followed the upper track which was fairly grown-in.   The track climbed the slopes of the hill which became more forested on the north-facing steep slope.    At the end of the double track, there is a faint single track trail which climbs the steep slopes.    There is some flagging tape (some of it I placed) and I added a dozen more cairns this time.   There are two hilltops.   The one on the west side … Continue reading →