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Tag Archives: Barnhartvale

Twilight Hill Loop

Kamloops Trails Posted on 2025-08-21 by dsmith2025-08-17  

There are a number of steep hills and there are a few trails up through them which can be combined from the trailhead at the end of Uplands/McLeod Drive in Barnhartvale.   For a moderate hike, we sometimes hike a series of single tracks through the grasslands benchlands (Uplands Trails Ramble).   The routes into the hills require some steep climbs on single tracks.    To the east is the Sunrise Mountain Trail which follows the ridge to the top.   West of Sunrise is a mountain/hill of the same elevation which I have been calling Sunset Mountain for many years.    It can be accessed from various directions using old double tracks and newer single tracks.     North of Sunset Mountain are three steep outlier hills.    there are unsigned single track trails going up the gullies between them and we can hike onto the top of the hill (off-trail) to all three for the views.

On summer days this year and last year I hiked up the steep trails to explore the routes.

From each of the hills we can hike pout to the north side for views of the South Thompson River Valley.

From exploring these trails and from previous explorations starting from Pratt Road, from Scott Road, from Juniper, and from Sunrise Mountain, I combined the hike over and around Twilight Hill with other trails for a partial loop hike of the hills.    Old double tracks and some single tracks wound down the hills and back to the trailhead area off Upland Drive.

Anyone who chooses to hike these hills will need to be prepared to hike steep routes and to navigate the trails.     On my next hike up in these hills I will be further exploring some other single tracks spotted along the way.

 

 

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Posted in Hikes | Tagged Barnhartvale, exploring, hiking, Sunset Mountain, Uplands | Leave a reply

Buse Hill Hike

Kamloops Trails Posted on 2025-06-10 by dsmith2025-06-05  

On a sunny June weekday morning I drove through Barnhartvale and up the Robbins Range Road to the Buse Hill trailhead.    I hiked up the steep double track to a small lake under Buse Hill, then went off track over the east shoulder to the rim, then continued west along the rim, down through gullies on single tracks, then back up the rim, all the way to the end of the hill overlooking the Buse Pinnacle.    On the way back, I looped through the forest and joined the main track on the south-facing grassland slopes. At about 1.2 kilometers up the track,  a small lake sits in a low spot between the hills.    The actual summit of … Continue reading →

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Posted in Hikes | Tagged Barnhartvale, Buse Lake Protected Area | Leave a reply

Barnes Lake Trails Hike

Kamloops Trails Posted on 2025-04-23 by dsmith2025-04-19  

We hiked the Barnes Lake horse-and-hiker-trails in Barnhartvale on a mid-April sunny day.    We started at the Gardiner Road entrance and went through the gate and onto the trails in the sagebrush grasslands, hiking a counter-clockwise 9.25 km loop on double and single tracks.   The trails were quiet but we watched for signs of spring, spotting wildflowers and birds along the way. The lower elevation areas have open grasslands and open forests. We went past Killdeer Pond, reduced in size after another drought year.    From there, we followed the trails on a moderate climb into the douglas fir forests. Half of the hike was in glaciated (undulating) terrain through douglas fir and lodgepole pine forests on the upper … Continue reading →

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Uplands Trails Ramble

Kamloops Trails Posted on 2025-04-07 by dsmith2025-08-09  

On the first of April I started a 6.25 km hike from the end of McLeod Drive (at the junction of McLeod Rd. and Uplands Rd. in Barnhartvale).    Trails start at the gas pipeline track and they fan out across the sagebrush grassland benchland, through gullies, and up into the hills.    For this day, the hike was a series of single track trails through the grasslands above the gullies, out to viewpoints,  and then back to cross the heads of gullies for more loops.    The final loop went down one of the larger gullies, then back up onto another benchland.    The solo hike took about 1.75 hours.   The hike started through a north-slope open forest … Continue reading →

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Posted in Hikes | Tagged Barnhartvale, grasslands, hiking, Sunrise Mountain | Leave a reply

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