On a mild end-of-February day we started a hike at the end of Aviation Way to go out to the West Beaches.    The route starts on the Rivers Trail, but we stayed on the narrower trail which follows the river downstream and out toward the Thompson River Estuary, looping back along the river for a 8 km, 2+ hour hike, much of it on the sand.

A single track trail winds through the cottonwoods above the floodlands, bearing west.

A single track drops down into a dry slough, following a single track past an old vehicle graveyard, sometimes called Dale’s Antique Beach.

We emerged to the beach shoreline, then wound through the red-osier dogwood to the beach.   We went around an island then hiked west along the West Beaches toward Tranquille.   Mindful not to hike too far on the sand, we started to look back, following the Thompson River upstream.

A few logs were left on the beaches from the previous year’s freshet.   Mara Mountain rises above the floodlands to the north.

There are several trails that wind through the dogwood, willows, and cottonwoods up to the main trail, and we  we followed one of them back to the start.    This is a hike we do every spring, since it is one of the first to become ice and mud-free.    The West Beaches are extensive, scenic and much appreciated at the end of winter.