Rambling through the Frederick Bluffs

Rambling through the Frederick Bluffs

Doug Smith  April 19, 2021 at 8:45 am

The Frederick Bluffs are a series of rocky hills on the benchland overlooking Kamloops Lake.   there are no trails in the area, but the hills have open grassland-sagebrush-scattered trees, so we can make up our own routes.   We always do a loop route and this time we followed a line of hills in a clockwise direction.

We usually take an eclectic approach to pick a route as we find gullies, ridges, sideslopes, outcrops, fallen trees, and bluffs.    On this day we went over the hilltops to enjoy the views along the way.    There was much up-and down over the 3 hours of hiking.

There are a handful of ponds in the low spots between the rocky hills.   Ducks visit these ponds in spring.

Every time we hike the area, we try to include going out to the Bighorn Bluff overlook and there we enjoy the view up and down the lake.

From Bighorn Bluff we went over a series of hills, all with wide views.

A few fallen trees create obstacles to go around, but also some offer some interesting specimens along the way.

The prominent bluffs along the lake are Battle Bluff standing above the lake to the east, Bighorn Bluff 3 km to the west, then the bluff overlooking the hamlet of Frederick, 1.5 km farther west.

A few wind-shaped trees grow in the rocky bluffs overlooking the lake.

A slope above Frederick has a series of volcanic boulders/outcrops standing on the hillside.

At the final bluff we had great views to Red Point, Peregrine Bluffs, and Six Mile Point.

There are a number or articles on Frederick Bluffs on this website and maps, driving directions, and more information is readily available to anyone wanting to explore 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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