Swakum Mountain Hike - Kamloops Trails

Swakum Mountain Hike – Kamloops Trails

Doug Smith  June 15, 2020 at 9:25 am

We travel down to the Merritt area from time to time to hike on the area trails.   Our favorite is the Lundbom area, but we have also hiked the other areas, like the Swakum Mountain Trails.   On previous occasions we have gone up and back from the flagpole parking area, but this time we tried a loop route, returning by lower slopes.

 

From the flagpole parking area, we climbed trails heading northwest.   Some of the junctions are not well marked, but with a printed map and a GPS, we worked our way onto the Upper Scenic Trail.

At several points along the upper trail, there were views of the Nicola Valley below.

We enjoyed some of the single track sections on the Swakum sidehill.

At the east end of the trail system, we encountered some junctions and we chose a clockwise loop.   We did not enjoy any of the route choices that descended steeply down the hills.

Once we got down the steep eroded slopes, we tried to work our way back through a maze of unsigned trails.   At one point we came to a fence so we dropped down to the streets and worked our way back to the flagpole.

We liked the Upper Scenic Trail. and so if we return, we would do a counter-clockwise loop, returning on a higher parallel track, returning back to the flagpole parking area from above.

It was a good day of hiking, though.   We will be hiking on the Lundbom Trails on our next time in the area.

 

 

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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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