Trail Name: Timber Tower & Loop
Distance: 4.6 km
Time: 2 hrs
Difficulty: Easy
Cell Service: No
Trail: Stomped in single track
Highlight: Beautiful snowshoe loop through the trees with possible cool viewpoint at tower
To get there: From downtown Kamloops, take Columbia street up the hill and through Sahali. Continue on Columbia Street onto the Trans-Canada highway heading west. Continue up the highway and take exit 366 for Copperhead Drive and Lac Le Jeune Rd. Turn left onto Copperhead Dr and follow the signs to Lac Le Jeune Rd. Turn right onto Lac Le Jeune Rd and continue for about 16 kms. It is not well signed, but on your right will be Timber Lake FSR. Take this road. (If you hit Goose Lake Rd on the left, you’ve gone too far!) Just past the culvert that takes you under the Coquihalla Hwy, the road turns to the right. Shortly thereafter, look for a pull out on the left. Park here. Or get the directions from Google Maps here.
**WARNING** We suggest taking a 4×4 vehicle. Although we managed in a 2WD SUV with traction control, we did get stuck in the snow a couple times and were lucky to get ourselves out. If you find yourself in a similar situation, your snowshoes make for good shovels! Also beware, this is an active logging road during the week.
Park where you can off the road on the left, and try not to get stuck! From here, follow the stomped in trail up the path. Keep straight, past the first left until you come to the pipeline. At this point, continue straight ahead. You’ll head up a gradual slope and then veer to the right. Continue up the slope and around the corner. Around the 1 km mark, you may see a trail heading straight up a pretty steep trail following the powerlines, you can either tackle this slope, or continue another couple hundred meters, turn right and take a more gradual slope up to the tower, which is what we did. You can also just skip the tower altogether and continue straight around the loop for a shorter outing. The loop without the tower is about 3.1 km. From the tower turn off, the path continues another couple km before completing the loop.
We really enjoyed this trail. It was a bit more of a climb than the others we’ve done, but still doable by most. We also think that the view from the tower would be amazing on a clearer day! We really enjoyed the loop and will be back (in a 4×4) to explore the area more!
mike
11 Jan 2016Sounds like you need a shovel in your car.. 🙂
There are a lot of good places to explore but getting parked safely can be a problem.
Try to find a hard spot, with enough room for logging trucks and traffic to get by. Check the snow depth before you drive out there, and if you can always turn around and point your car towards the way home- that makes it easier to get going when you’re done, and if there ever was an emergency and you were in a hurry you don’t want to have to figure out turning around.
HikeKamloops
11 Jan 2016Thanks for the tips Mike! Very useful information!
We have definitely rethought what we should have in the car in case of emergencies! We will be better prepared for next time for sure!!