Opax Mountain Loop - Kamloops Trails

Opax Mountain Loop – Kamloops Trails

Doug Smith  June 6, 2023 at 6:27 am

We hiked from Lac du Bois up onto Opax Mountain, and on to the western side where cliffs overlook the Tranquille River Canyon.     Usually we do this as an out-and-back hike, a great 15 km hike.    Recently Al Budreau, the author of Kamloops Backcountry Hikes, has developed a trail from the viewpoint down to the end of Hanging Valley.    He has marked it and he was kind enough to provide GPS coordinates to us.   We did this hike as a loop route on a warm day at the end of May. 

We hiked along the north side of Lac du Bois and into Hanging Valley.   We turned off and started a longer, winding track up the mountain.  

The Opax West route is one we have been hiking for decades and we return to hike it most years in spring.   

From the viewpoint at the west end are fine views down the canyon to Kamloops Lake, but also has views of Wheeler Mountain, Mara Mountain, and Red Plateau. 

The new trail down the ridge to Hanging Valley is still being worked on.    the upper end has some spots requiring a bit of scrambling.    Most of the route requires a bit of route-finding, but Al has placed lots of flagging tape and markers.    For the most part it follows the natural ridgeline for most of the way down.     There is one sharp turn near the bottom where the route angles back to cross two gullies and another ridge before arriving at the bottom end of Hanging Valley.  

We hiked back up Hanging Valley to Lac du Bois.    The entire route was about 15.8 km and it took us 5.5 hours.  

We like this hike so we will be back to do another route on Opax Mountain next year.   

A few of the moments on this hike are found in this video:

 

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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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