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, finding parking off the road may also be a challenge.
We snowshoe many days in the winter and we gravitate to areas that have lots of snow, have good road access, have somewhere reasonable to park, and have a variety of trails, some of them stomped-in. The Bush Lake – Dogwood Marshes trails fit all the preferences. The Bush Lake Trails were first established as cross country ski trails for the 1979 (first ) BC Winter Games in Kamloops. They were the “go-to” spot for Nordic skiing many years ago. A parking loop area was established just off the Lac le Jeune Road. When the Coquihalla Highway was planned, there would be a new wide roadway and fences cutting the Bush Lake and Timber Lake Trails in half. The Government of BC agreed to replace the trail network with a new one, the Stake Lake Trail system. Logging, excavation, and fences reduced the Bush Lake area to a much smaller area, but skiers, then snowshoers, and now fat-bike riders have expanded the trails north and south.
Later, snowshoers crossed the barbed-wire fence on the east side and began to explore the marshes of Anderson Creek, the double tracks above, and a small number of single tracks. Over time, more users on the east side encouraged the Ministry of Forests to work with the grazing licensee and install a gate allowing winter access to the trails and tracks. The main trails drop down into the marshlands full of red-osier dogwood (red twigged shrubs) and willows. The name “Dogwood Marshes” was used and more tracks were set. It started to have more use than Bush Lake. As fat-tire bike users joined snowshoers, the “trails” were mapped and some signs were installed. The network of trails has expanded and users can see their routes on apps like Trailforks, Maps.me, and others. Mostly people just follow the stomped-in tracks and learn the turns to take over time.
We can connect to McConnell Lake now or up onto the slopes of Hull Hill from the core area of Dogwood Marshes. There are extended routes south on the Bush Lake Trails for ambitious snowshoers and fat-tire bikers. The trails are not maintained by any specific group formally, but cycling clubs and hiking clubs do some trail maintenance, as needed (come of us carry folding saws). Mostly it is cared for by winter users who appreciate the trail network.
To get to the parking area for Bush Lake and the Dogwood Marshes, drive up the Lac le Jeune Road past the Goose Lake turnoff, past the McConnell FSR, up the hill, and watch for the C-shaped parking area on the east (left) side (before the turn to McConnell Lake). The area is not kept ploughed but it gets driven on to keep the spaces accessible. It may not be the best choice right after a big snowfall.
A selection of photos from winter snowshoeing on the Bush Lakes and Dogwood Marshes Trails are provided here in a Google Photos album – Bush Lake/Dogwood Marshes (link)
An embedded slideshow is also provided here:
See you on the trails.
