After a light snowfall in early December, we hiked an old trail from McQueen Lake to Isobel Lake. The trail was used decades ago as a cross country ski, snowshoe, or hiking trail from McQueen Lake to Isobel Lake. Forestry staff installed interpretative signs along the route. It has since fallen into disuse, mainly because there is very little parking …Continue reading…
On the first day of July I hiked along the edge of the McQueen Lake area to the Grasslands Community Trail, then looped back through the upper grasslands around Clay Lake, then followed an old double track on to the flank of Clapperton Hill, and back through the grasslands – open forest to the start. The whole route was around …Continue reading…
On a sunny summer day we hiked half of the Grasslands Community Trail from the top, then we looped back on a Connector Trail above McQueen Creek for an 8.6 km hike. We parked at the trailhead and followed the signed trail past Griffin Lake. After 1 km through the forest, the trail emerges into an open area with several …Continue reading…
In the last third of winter we snowshoed the upper end of the Lac du Bois Grasslands Conservancy. The goal was to go on a known route to the end of Clay Lake, then continue east over to Meadow Pond and back, following some known tracks, some user-made snowshoe tracks, and breaking trail to connect them. There are some …Continue reading…
Before the snows get too deep, backroads make good hiking corridors. Once the snow is over 20 cm, snowshoes may be a better option. At about 10 cm hiking was easy with or without traction devices. On a sunny, mild day the hiking route was up the Mud Lake Road from McQueen Lake. There was one set of footprints into …Continue reading…
We parked at the McQueen Lake entrance, then continued down the Isobel Lake Road, turning (at N50° 50.081′ W 120° 26.001′ ) onto the Forest Capital Trail (now called Beer’s a Waitin’ by the mountain biking community) and continued along the single/double track/trail to Isobel Lake. The trail is a good one, which we also use in winter on snowshoes. …Continue reading…
In mid-November we hiked from the McQueen Lake area to Isobel Lake, then around the lake, and back on the same trail, a 5.5 km hike on the snow. My usual route for this hike was along the former Forestry Capital Trail (now called Beers-a-Waiting by mountain bikers) but with recent snowfall there was not much parking for a group …Continue reading…
In every month of the year there are interesting routes that start in the Lac du Bois Nature Conservancy. On a sunny day in early September we struck off through the tall grasses toward Clay Lake. A faint single track route goes over to the end of Clay Lake, but it was mostly grown over with snowberry shrubs and windfall. …Continue reading…
We explored the hills above McQueen Lake and Pass Lake on a grey and stormy day. Using high clearance vehicles we climbed on the Dairy Creek Branch Roads to a spot at 1223m and parked. We followed skid tracks, motorcycle trails and also did some bushwhacking. We found an easier route on the way out. The douglas fir forest had …Continue reading…
Most of Griffin Lake is within the McQueen Lake Environmental Education Center. It is a swampy lake, not suitable for fishing. It is too small a lake for a destination paddle and there is no good access to the lake’s edge. On a spring day I put my kayak on some wheels and followed a rough track from the …Continue reading…
For most of our winters, the Isobel Lake Road can be snowed in, so hikers, cross-country skiers, and snowshoers have to trek 2.5 km along the road, but there is an alternative. A trail cut a few decades ago linked McQueen Lake to Isobel Lake. It was built by the BC Forest Service and was called the Forestry Capital Trail. …Continue reading…
In late fall when the first snows cover the uplands hills we sometimes hike at the northern end of the grasslands near McQueen Lake. The season for cattle grazing is over in the Nature Conservancy and students are usually not at the Overnight Center in transitions season, but we still want to avoid trespassing on the site when students are …Continue reading…
The upper grasslands on the edge of the forest is the north end of the Lac du Bois Conservancy of Canada. it is bordered by Park lands on the east and south and the McQueen Lake Environmental Education Center on the north. Clay Lake and Meadow Pond lie in a grasslands basin surrounded by forest. There are a number of …Continue reading…
A favorite winter snowshoe route is the snowed-in double track up the east side of Opax Mountain. We follow the gravel road to the BC Forest Service kiosk near the Mud Lake Demonstration Forest then continue east, climbing for 3 km onto a forested plateau. The best views are to the south so we continued along the double track to …Continue reading…