Westsyde Dunes Beach Walk
In winter, the shorelines and beaches along the North and South Thompson Rivers expand as the river recedes. We can pick routes along the rivers for a winter beach walk. We parked on Harrington Drive in Westsyde, and then walked down to the river.
From the gravel banks on the river, we turned north.
We continued north on a narrow path and along the gravel banks for 2 km. At the end the beach becomes narrow in an area with some farmlands between the river and Westsyde Road, a good place to turn around.
There is a dense riparian zone between the Dunes Golf Course and the North Thompson River. Red osier dogwood, willows, tall grasses, and cottonwoods fill that corridor.
The low winter sun peered through the clouds on the route back.
Across the river, the slopes of Strawberry Hill rise above Rayleigh.
This out and back river walk is about 4 – 4.5 km. When snows cover the hills, we can go for a river hike on “dry” shorelines instead.
Love this !
Hi there… i am interested in what apps you are using to plot your hike and what electronics maps…new to the electronic world and i am wanting to start recording my hikes on a map like you use….thAnk you in advance
Hi, Dean
You can use a watch with a GPS, an app in a Smartphone, or a handheld GPS. I have all 3 and use whichever one works best for me. When I use an app on a Smart Phone it uses data though. If I am out of cell range, I use an handheld Garmin GPS. All 3 devices record a track which I can wirelessly send to my PC or download. I use .gpx format since it works with mapping programs, Google Earth, and all relevant apps. There are many free apps and a number that you pay for. For my Android, I use Geotracker but there a a number of good apps to choose from, some linked to web services. Mountain bikers have their own app-website service. I use different mapping programs but the main one I use is TopoFusion.