Near the start of October we drove through Merritt, then down Highway 5A and turned onto the Lundbom – Marquart Lake Road.    We parked near Lundbom Lake to hike on trails and tracks in the Lundbom Grasslands Commonage.    Our goal for the day was to hike to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain, then loop back on other trails through the hills.    Much of the hike was on south-facing open grassland slopes, but we also went through some mixed forest patches on the loop route.   The hike was 9.5 km with some lots of up and down.

Sugarloaf Mountain was 3.5 km due west as we hiked a double track toward Hamilton Lake.

From Hamilton Lake we started a steep climb on a  double track then a single track to the base of the bluffs.    A single track trail winds up to the top of the hill.

From the top of the mountain there were 360º views.    To the east we looked down to Hamilton Lake with Lundbom Lake beyond.     In the distance was the Okanagan Plateau.

To the west the City of Merritt was 9k away in the Nicola Valley.

To the northeast the rolling Lundbom Commonage Grasslands hills offer more hiking.    Over the years we have hiked all of the trails.    We hiked the Cocobonk Loop in spring of this year.    We scrambled down the north side of the mountain to pick up a single track trail.    Some of the navigation in the forested areas is more difficult as the vegetation grows up around the single tracks.    We worked our way over to the Wounded Knee Trail.

The main trails have signs and there is some flagging tape here and there.    We had hiked wounded Knee before, so we knew how to get to the Cocobonk Trail and then back towards Lundbom Lake.

We came down the long downhill route through open grassland slopes with pockets of aspens providing fall colour.

This was a fine sunny day for hiking in a favorite area.

We descended to the east end of Hamilton Lake, then retraced our steps back to the start.

We have been hiking this area for a few decades and we will return for more hiking in upcoming years.     A highly recommended area for hiking…   (More information – Lundbom Lake Trails)