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…
AS the hills dry out in early spring we often hike in the lower Mt. Mara – Tranquille Hills in spring. On a late March day we started at the Mara Trail then hiked up the Pruden Pass Road to do the Mara Outer Trail Loop. The Outer Loop follows an old double track up a sandy hill to a …Continue reading…
Wheeler Bluffs is prime destination for a hike, but all routes to the top of the cliffs are long. We sometimes come up from the Tranquille area by following the road from the Mara Trailhead to Pruden Pass and then up the Wheeler Mountain Road. We have also come from Lac du Bois and from Mara Mountain, but all of …Continue reading…
We hiked the Watching Creek Trail from Tranquille Crossing in mid-June. Spring melt/freshet meant that crossing Watching Creek would be hazardous, so we explored the confluence area and some side trails and returned the way we came, an 8.5 km moderate route. A short video is shared here: More Information – Watching Creek Trail
We planned a hike from Lac du Bois to the western cliffs of Opax Mountain overlooking Tranquille Canyon and back, but we opted to doa treverse of Oapx Mountain from west to east, extending the hike into a long loop route. Our hike started by going around the north side of Lac du Bois and then to Hanging Valley. A …Continue reading…
Some background: Pruden Pass is the gap between Mara Mountain and Wheeler Mountain. The first homesteader in the area was a man named Wheeler in 1876. Under the Dominion Lands Act of 1872, lands were made available for homesteading. Some of the next homesteaders of the area were the Prudens (1912), the Masseys, the Harris’s, and the Damgaards. A school …Continue reading…
From Lac du Bois we hiked south along the Upper Grasslands Track past rolling hills and ponds to the (unsigned) Wheeler Mountain Road, along the double track for about 2 km, then onto a side track bearing north to the fenceline, down the fenceline corridor to Hanging Valley, then back up the double track to Lac du Bois, an 8.8 …Continue reading…
We hiked up the east side of Opax Mountain and out to the open ridge overlooking Hanging Valley. Lava cliffs face south and above is an open grassland slope with wide views. We drove up a side road from McQueen Lake and parked near Mud Lake. We followed an old double track road as it climbed for 2.7 km to …Continue reading…
At the end of summer we drove into Lac du Bois Grasslands Park, then out on the Pruden Pass Road to the end. We hiked up the grassland and open forest slopes (within the Park) up to an open bench where homesteaders once lived. Remains of the cabin are still there but the pond that provided water was dry after …Continue reading…
On a grey late fall day we drove up through the Lac du Bois Grasslands Protected Area to the Lac du Bois Grasslands Conservancy and parked at Lac du Bois. We hiked south along an old double track in the upper grasslands. We had hoped to have the sun break through the fog, but we only had a few glimpses. …Continue reading…
When the south-facing hills start to dry out, we look for scenic routes through the hills. On this mid-March day we hiked up the Pruden Pass Road from the Mara Trail(head), then took side routes out to the Guardsmen Overlook, Panorama Point, and Moby Dick before returning to the double track back to the parking area. We climbed up the …Continue reading…
When the first warming of late winter comes, the south-facing lower-elevation ridges melt first. Ridges dry off mostly quickly because gravity draws the meltwater away in 3 directions and the tops of ridges are also the most exposed to both wind and sun. Any slope that is at 90 degrees to the low winter sun also receives the most direct …Continue reading…
Every winter we snowshoe through the middle grasslands of Lac du Bois Protected Area. We have several routes, but one of our favorites starts at the signed parking area for the Nature Trail. We prefer to do this route later in winter each year when the snow settles a bit and the tracks are well-stomped in. We have done this …Continue reading…
Three mountains run south to north from the Thompson River Valley: Mount Mara, Mount Wheeler, and Opax Mountain. There are trails/routes to the top of all three, detailed on this website. In November we returned to hike the route up the north side of Mount Wheeler, an 11.7 km return route We started at Lac du Bois, then followed a …Continue reading…
An old double track goes from Tranquille Crossing (on the Tranquille Criss Creek Road) to the confluence area where Watching Creek meets the Tranquille River. Both the river and the creek feature canyons with rugged cliffs and fall colors. The double track down the side of the river is a moderate hike of 2.5 km each way. We hiked down …Continue reading…