Category Archives: Snowshoeing

Winter snowshoeing in the hills.

Snowshoeing the Lodgepole Lake Area

Kamloops Trails Posted on by  

One of the best areas for snowshoeing in the area is from trailheads at Lodgepole Lake.    The lake is higher (4600 feet) than nearby Lac le Jeune and it is on the border of backcountry forests on the flanks of Chuwhels Mountain.  to get to Lodgepole Lake, we turn off the Lac le Jeune Road near Stake Lake and follow the Chuwhels Forest Service Road to Lodgepole Lake.     The road is kept plowed all winter, but it may not yet be in good shape right after a snowfall.     For much of the winter, though, we can easily drive up to the parking area next to the Lodgepole Lake Recreation Site (campground).     There is lots of parking there.     The Chuwhels Mountain Road is not plowed in winter, but there may be snowmobile tracks or snowshoe tracks heading up the slopes.     The main snowshoeing trails/routes start at the campground.    Some of the trails have user-made signs and many are flagged.  Most of the routes in the area are summer-use motorcycle trails (GKMA) and forestry branch roads.   For snowshoers new to the area, the safest bet is to follow existing stomped-in trails.    Since most routes are in the forest, retrace your steps if you feel like you aren’t sure where you are.    Better yet, use a reliable GPS-enabled app on your phone to show you the trails, where you are, and a compass.    I use Maps.me and find it reliable and accurate.   There are a number of other apps for Android or Iphones.

We can also snowshoe along ponds and through cutblocks.   Trails that go north or east tend to climb and may be less-used.    Most of the stomped-in trails that can be used to make a loop route bearing west.    Lots of these are signed, but you may get to a junction that is unsigned, hence the support of a GPS-enabled mapping app.

There are some good longer routes to explore too, but you may be breaking trail and navigation will be required.  Start by doing smaller loops, then add extensions over time, adding more routes each year.    Since most of these routes are in the backcountry, take all the usual safety precautions, especially if the weather is cold.     This would not be a good area to snowshoe in fading light or in the dark.

We snowshoe the area about 6 times each winter and we are still combining trails and routes for a new loop each time.    A gallery of photos from snowshoeing the area are provided here – Lodgepole Snowshoeing (link).

A slideshow of the album is also provided below.

We hope to see you on the trails.

Snowshoeing the Isobel Lake Trails

Kamloops Trails Posted on by 2

In mid-January the temperatures rose and snow started to disappear in the valley, but the snow near Isobel Lake is at a higher elevation and the area is in behind forested hills.     The snow was going through some melt-and-freeze cycles so it was hard where it had been walked/biked on, and crusty elsewhere.    The road was hard-packed on the way in so care was needed on the curves, but it was drivable by most vehicles.     The area is walked, snowshoed and ridden on fatbikes in winter (who also maintain the trails).   The parking area was cleared (with thanks) and there were lots of signs along the trails. I wore snowshoes on the trails (rather than spikes on … Continue reading →

Bush Lake and Dogwood Marshes

Kamloops Trails Posted on by  

When snow blankets the hills in winter, we can go snowshoeing at higher elevations.     Some of the locations frequented in our area include Stake Lake, Sun Peaks, Harper Mountain, Isobel Lake, Lodgepole Lake, Lac le Jeune, and the Bush Lake – Dogwood Marshes area.   We can also snowshoe backroads and snowed-in trails, either on snowmobile tracks or breaking trail.   There is a fee required to snowshoe at stake Lake, Harper Mountain, or Sun Peaks, but not at the other areas noted above.    Getting to a parking area for trailheads has to be taken into account.    Some roads are not plowed soon after a snowfall, and some roads may require 4WD to access trailheads.   When plows clear roads, … Continue reading →

Clapperton Ridge Snowshoe

Kamloops Trails Posted on by  

By mid-February the colder temperatures gave way to better conditions for outdoor activities.    I drove north through Lac du Bois Provincial Park to the upper end of the grasslands just south of McQueen Lake.     I snowshoed an old cart track through an open bowl, then a forested section (douglas fir and aspens), to the open grasslands of the Lac du Bois Conservation Area.    My goal for the day was to get to a viewpoint on the southwest side of Clapperton Hill. The winter sun shone bright through thin clouds as I followed stomped-in tracks to the ridge. I crested the ridge and stopped to enjoy views over the grasslands, to Mount Mara, and over to Wheeler Mountain. … Continue reading →

Insectopia to Mod Squad

Kamloops Trails Posted on by  

On a cool February a group of fellow snowshoers followed a route which combined a series of the Chuwhels Mountain dirtbike trails (GKMA) from Lodgepole Lake though the forests and plantations in a large loop which went over a hilltop above the whole area.    Some of the trails were stomped in, but at least half needed to be stomped in.   We followed single tracks near Lodgepole Lake to get to the Insectopia Trail, then we combined more trails (Mod Squad, Something Nasty, Roots of All Evil, Mikey Likes It, and Walloper Creek Trail) and some backcountry double tracks for an 8.5 km (4+ hour) snowshoe outing. Insectopia wound up through the hills and required extra trail-breaking. The Mod Squad … Continue reading →

Jacko Lake Stomp

Kamloops Trails Posted on by  

On a mild winter day at the end of January I decided to stomp on snowshoes into Jack Lake and back.   We can drive up the gravel road in 3 seasons to kayak the lake, but there is now a gate on the access road so no one is going in to the lake.    I checked it out a week before and there were no tracks.   When I arrived back, there was a single ski track to follow. I used snowshoes since the snow was deep enough to make hiking more difficult.   The sun was peeking through the clouds off and on during the stomp in and back. The ski track was gone after about 0.5 km, then I … Continue reading →

Hull Hill Snowshoeing

Kamloops Trails Posted on by  

We drove up the Lac le Jeune Road, then turned east onto the Goose Lake Road.   A short way down the road is a snowy backroad that angles southeast.    The road has a number of branch roads (some new ones), but the main branch crosses Anderson Creek, then winds up the western flank of Hull Hill.    We parked at the start of this double track.     A few people snowshoe the area so the first part of the road has been packed down and has lots of parking.    There are few tracks leading off in different directions, but we chose a single track the climbs to the south. The stomped-in track winds through thinned forests to a … Continue reading →

Eureka – The Meaning of Life

Kamloops Trails Posted on by 1

On  a mild winter day I drove up the Lac le Jeune Road, then turned onto the Chuwhels Mountain Road on a plowed road up to Lodgepole Lake.    From the parking area at the west end of the lake, I hiked back across the lake, then turned north up into the hills, following an old snowed-in double track for the first part of the route to Eureka Lake. There had been a snowmobile track to follow for about a kilometer, but then I had to break trail for a while. At 1.5 km up the double track I turned right onto a single track motorcycle trail called Meaning of Life.     There were snowshoe tracks on to follow continuing … Continue reading →