Lac Du Bois Hills in May

Lac Du Bois Hills in May

Doug Smith  June 9, 2020 at 7:58 am

Lac du Bois and the hills nearby sit at 873m – 982m (2864 ft. to 3220 ft.) so spring arrives  later than the lower grasslands, but when it does, the ponds are full, slopes green up, and wildflowers over the upper grassland slopes.     I paddled Lac du ?Bois, enjoying all the birds and western painted turtles, then secured the kayak and hiked up the hills to the east side in the Lac du Bois Grasslands Conservancy.   The ponds are at their fullest at this time, and there were lots of ducks in hidden pockets in the hills.

There were many wildflowers out including balsam root, western spring beauty, woodlands star, shooting star, lemonweed, buttercups, cutleaf daisy, and larkspur.   Some of these are featured on A Wildflower Journal.

Sticky geranium (geranium viscosissimum) will bloom soon, and at this time is a mass of toothed leaves.

Western spring beauties are small, numerous, but elegant.

Small groves of aspens are clustered around wet spots and above, yellow patches of balsam root rise up the the treeline on Clapperton Hill (1157 m  or 3800 ft.)

From the top of the hill on the east side of Lac du Bois a part of the lake is visible, right on the edge of the forest – grassland divide.

Upland larkspur starting to flower, mostly on south-facing slopes.   It will be prolific soon.

This a hike we do several times in the spring, each time enjoying a new phase of the spring renewal.

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Doug Smith

Doug writes for Kamloops Trails, a not-for-profit (and ad free) website, offering information on trails, waterways, routes, featured spots, viewpoints, and explorations in the outdoors in the Kamloops area (and beyond).

Doug started exploring this area in 1976 and continues to follow tracks and routes wherever they lead, with the aid of map, compass, GPSr and camera. After many dead-ends, but also many discoveries, he chose to share this information.

The Kamloops Trails website has a massive number of interesting posts and would be of interest to anyone in Kamloops who enjoys the outdoors. Visit the Kamloops Trails website at: http://www.kamloopstrails.ca/

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