VOLCANIC FORMATIONS AND
STUNNING VIEWS AT DEWDROP
I had often heard about the Dewdrop trail
from my mountain biking friends and it is a popular
place to hop on a bike and hurl down the side of a
mountain. My sense of self-preservation prevents me
from taking up this sport so I never gave the Dewdrop
area much thought. That is until my hiking friends
started to recommend the area and told me it had a
fantastic trail with great vistas and lots of cool volcanic
formations to explore.
I put it on my “Hikes to Do List” and when
my friends Jim and Cathy invited me to go hiking with
them one nice November day I suggested we check out
the Dewdrop Trail.
Before I embark on any new Kamloops Trail I
always check what Doug Smith has to say about it.
Doug has spent years exploring our area and shares his
findings on www.kamloopstrails.net - the online bible
for Kamloops hikers. According to Doug, the Dewdrop
Trail “was originally built by Forestry when they had
outdoor recreational staff. The trail has eroded over
the years and now it is part of the Lac Du Bois
Grasslands Protected Area (BC Parks). The Kamloops
Trail Alliance and BC Parks worked on the lower end of
the trail in 2012, clearing fallen trees, improving the
trail surface in eroded areas, and completing the spur
trail to the lookout at the 2km mark.
 Jim Mitchell stops for a rest at the third and final viewpoint at kilometer 5.
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He goes on to say that the trail “officially ends
past Castle Butte at a gully 6.5 kilometres from the
trailhead and that a loop is possible on a rough trail.
We attempted to park a vehicle at each end of
the trail but quickly learned that there was no clearly
marked trail at the other end. Since we weren’t familiar
enough with the area to bushwhack our way to the trail
we decided to stick to the main trail: a 5-kilometre oneway trail with three viewpoints that took us
approximately 4 hours to complete round-trip.
The well maintained trail was rather steep in
sections but for the most part was a steady heartpumping uphill that wound through some pretty
interesting volcanic formations. Amongst the many
rock ovens and cave faces we came across, our favorite
was a formation along the top of the trail that resembled
an angry eel.
The steep decent was challenging for my
aging knees so I was glad I brought hiking poles and
knee wraps to help me along.
HOW TO GET THERE – From Kamloops take
Tranquille Road past the Kamloops airport and the golf
course then take the right fork onto Criss Creek Road.
From here go left on to Frederick Road a short distance
down the road on your right you will see the parking
area and the trailhead. A few meters down the road to
the left is the parking and trailhead for Battle Bluffs.
 Top: Jim Mitchell hides in a man cave he found at the top of the mountain. Bottom: Cathy Underwood poses at the second
viewpoint. Left: Our favorite rock face was this one that resembles an angry eel.
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