Ridge Lakes Hike – KamloopsTrails
On a hot summer day I got an early start and drove to Lac le Jeune. I turned onto the Lac le Jeune West Road, then onto the Ridge Mountain Forest Service Road that climbs over the hills to the south. I parked at the start of the decommissioned Ridge Lakes FSR. The road cannot be driven any more. There are deep water bars, holes, and lots of trees down. It can still be hiked, but there are no signs, and the old double track is becoming grown-in.
The track climbs a series of hills, following the drainage from the lakes. Lodgepole pine lines the route for the length of the hike.
Ridge Creek runs from the Ridge Lakes through a large marsh, then down a series of gullies to Meadow Creek. This is a good place to spot moose. On this day I spotted a lynx, a weasel, and a snowshoe hare. There was lots of bear scat , but no sightings.
The new access road to the Ridge Lakes comes from the south. I have cross country skied, snowshoed, and hiked this track. It climbs over the ridge for 2 km to an elevation of 1570m (5150 feet).
There is an informal recreation site at the west end of the largest Ridge Lake. It is a fishing lake, but its hard to get to.
My maps showed a trail around the Ridge Lakes, suitable for a loop route. I hiked about half a kilometer along the south shore. It is a snowmobile track, a rough single track. Sleds can cross marshes, but hikers can’t, so I turned around and came back to the end of the lake.
This ended up being a 9.4 km out-and-back route. Ridge Mountain rises above the route on the north side of the drainage, visible from a small hilltop.
This was a quiet hike in the backcountry. There was no one else in the area even though Ridge Lake is a beautiful spot. I hope to return, driving the new route over the top and down to the lake, with my kayak on top, but if not, I plan to be back to snowshoe the area in winter.
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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