When the weather is marginal or when trail conditions are not great, we have a few go-to routes, one of which is the Sunset Trail in Kenna Cartwright Park.   The start is on Hillside Drive past the Kamloops Correctional Facility.   A double track bears north.   The trail was all-ice so we put our traction devices (microspikes) on and stomped up the Pipeline Trail.  At the signed trail junction, we turned west and followed the Sunset Trail to the end.

The top of the ridge is open and there were sections of dry (no snow or ice) ground.      From the viewpoint, we could see west down Kamloops Lake.   There was little snow on the south-facing slopes on the north side of the lake in January.

The view to the east is to Mt. Dufferin/Kenna Cartwright Park.  Mt. Fleet and Mt. Lolo stand in the distance, 24 km northeast.

With icy trails, we just went down the hillside off-trail on the open slopes, sometimes on snow and sometimes on “dry” ground.

The whole route back was off trail.   Once we came down the slope, we hit the snow-covered flats.   There are some dog-walk trails in the area, but everywhere that had been walked on was icy so we just punched through ankle-deep snow back to the trailhead.   The route was only 3 km, but it was slow-going on the ice and across the unbroken snow fields.   When the ice sets on our trails, we often look for open slopes instead.   The Sunset Trail is one good choice of many in our area.