Each year we hike to the top of Mara Hill/Mountain choosing one of three different routes. Our favorite route is from the northeast, at the fenceline in Pruden Pass. We drive up the Lac du Bois Road, then turn left onto the Pruden Pass Road. We follow the bumpy route to the gate and park there (the former site of the Wheeler Mountain School). The sign on the fence says “No Trespassing,” but it really refers to the private property 600 m farther on. The lands to the west (for 600m ) are BC Parks lands so we can hike them, although there is no visible trail. We angled off to the southwest, picking up an occasional single track. Someone had flagged a route up to the upper bench, but it is easy to miss the next flag on the way up. Since it is mostly grassland slopes and open forests, we can make our own route up to the upper pond.
As we climbed the hill, the Lac du Bois Grasslands filled our view to the east.
After passing the pond and the old homestead, we can pick up a good trail on the south end of the bench which climbs up onto the upper shoulder of Mara Hill. The upper part of Mara Hill has open forest and many glades. A gully traverses the whole mountain from south to north, so we usually follow a trail down to the bottom of the hully, then back up a steep track toward the southwest summit area.
At the viewpoint on top of the cliffs at the south summit, we had open views to the Thompson River Valley and Kamloops Lake.
We could also see the South Thompson River Valley and Kamloops to the east.
On the way back we climbed up over the rocky bluffs to the East Summit and then along a series of open areas with views of the grasslands and across the North Thompson River Valley to Dome Hills and Strawberry Hill.
We wound down, picking up sections of trails on roughly the same route that we took on the way up, completing a 6.7 km hike up the Mara Northeast Route.
Next year we may do one of the other routes, up from the Tranquille area on backroads and tracks from the west, or possibly up Cinnamon Ridge from the south. This is all rugged terrain with steep sections, best suited to experienced hikers with some navigation skills.