Bob H. at Mara Canyon:
“It was another amazing day for a hike in BC! Starting at 9:30 at the trailhead (350 m) on Tranquille Road in Northwest Kamloops, it was overcast and 10 deg C with a chilly wind. As the two of us proceeded up the west ridge of Mara Canyon, the terrain got steep fast and finding good footholds was challenging; however, the group of 9 California bighorn sheep looking on had no problem with the terrain. We made it up to the first viewpoint (600 m) in 70 minutes. The trail is not marked well at all and I am thankful for the GPS track emailed to me the night before by local hiker. After the first peak, we continued across a large hoodoo and northwards along the west ridge. There is little green up there, but there are plenty of cacti, sagebrush and ponderosa pine. Continuing along the ridge, there are many precarious traverses across slopes with small gravel over bedrock – it was very slippery. A large amount of time I was on all fours, just like the sheep! We made it to the base of Mara Bluff (785 m) at 11:30 and from here the descent into the canyon began. Again, there were many loose rock sections to traverse on the way down. We passed a old rusty car and the backbone of possibly one of the California bighorn sheep. Once in the dry creekbed, there were more trees – further down, there was some water in the creek. The views looking up from the bottom of the canyon were equally impressive as the views from the ridge. We finally made it back to the trailhead at 1:15 pm, after climbing through two train cars in a very long line of a stationary train. At the end of the hike, skies were blue and the temp was 18 deg C.”