2021 was another unusual year with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing and everyone flocking to the great outdoors to stay safe and healthy. We also had extreme heat in the Kootenays followed by almost a month of thick wildfire smoke. A challenging time during the height of hiking season! New Trails Added Only a handful of …
What a strange year 2020 was! Just as hiking trails were thawing out last March, the COVID-19 pandemic began and many parks and recreation sites were closed. New Trails Added With restrictions in the spring, I re-hiked many of the trails within a short drive of Nelson and added new photos and information to West …
It’s February and already starting to feel a bit like spring with milder temperatures and returning daylight. Luckily, the West Kootenays got a record amount of snow in January, providing lots of opportunity of winter adventure. Things slowed down on West Kootenay Hiking this winter, but I am working on a snowshoe guide and collecting …
2019 was a fantastic season! The cooler, wetter weather interfered with a few hiking plans, but it created wonderful wildflowers and prevented terrible wildfires. A big highlight for me was backpacking the Earl Grey Pass Trail! It’s an epic trek across the Purcells and was definitely a challenging hike. I was also pleased to finally …
Nelson is surrounded by forested mountains with hidden viewpoints. It’s a hikers paradise – if you know where to go! Here are some of the best viewpoint trails that will let you gaze out over our mountain town.
West Kootenay Hiking has hit some big milestones in the last few days 75 trail reviews posted 50,000 visitors on the new site and this new Facebook page! Let’s celebrate with a giveaway! WHAT YOU CAN WIN: A unisex t-shirt from the West Kootenay Hiking collection in the colour, size, and design of your choice: …
March is here and it doesn’t feel like winter will be over for a while! But despite the cold, the days are lengthening and the sun is brightening and hiking season is just around the corner. My goal over the winter was to edit and re-format all of the 60+ hikes on this site. And …
Well, the 2018 hiking season is over and it’s time to get down to work! On July 1st, I launched westkootenayhiking.ca and posted my vision and plan for the site: Introducing… WestKootenayHiking.ca. Since then, I’ve had so much positive feedback from the local hiking community and the site has had over 23,000 views. There has been …
Happy Canada Day! Today is the launch of WestKootenayHiking.ca! When I moved to Nelson in April 2016, I started a personal hiking blog called “The Kooteneer” to capture trail reports and adventures on our West Kootenay hiking trails. Since then, I’ve written nearly 100 posts and had traffic to the blog steadily increasing to over …
With summery temperatures pushing +30, the snow-line is finally receding higher into the mountains and more shoulder-season hikes are opening up. The wildflowers on the Flagpole trail above Nelson are absolutely fantastic right now. Red paintbrush, blue delphinium, and huge clusters of yellow balsamroot, as well as many more are blanketing the open sections of …
