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Mt Bonaparte is located just south of the Canadian border in the north of Washington state. The hike is average at best as it follows a dusty ATV track up to the summit. The journey is worth it for the good views and history lesson. A fire lookout originally built in 1914 stands tall at the summit and is still occupied for service during fire season.
Barber Mountain is nothing special aside from the fact that its high point is very close to the US-Canada border. It is also just plain fun to hike to border monuments. Each monument is numbered and this gives a rough idea of distance from the start of the border line near Vancouver.
Access
There is no signage or trail markings for this hike but the 'trail' starts exactly 1.7km (north) up the road from the US border. There are some gravel side roads to park on. The trail starts as a rough road through a field and turns into singletrack for a loop up the mountain. One must 'bushwhack' off the loop trail to reach the 'summit'. There are few trees and bushes so bushwhacking is straightforward. There is no visible trail in most places up to the summit so just follow the ridgeline and keep going up.
From the top there are excellent views along the US-Canada border line, Mt. Chopaka, and down into the Similkameen river valley.
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Note the different shades of vegetation north and south of the border
Tuktakamin is one of the Okanagan's tallest mountains and is located just south of Falkland, BC
Access
Tuktakamin Mt is accessible from both Pinaus Lake Road as well as Ingram Creek road. The first is the most direct but should only be attempted with a high-clearance 4x4. Ingram Creek road is in much better condition and doable with most vehicles. Both roads can become very muddy depending on the time of year. Eventually these 2 roads converge around Will Lake. From here the road has some questionable sections and the hiker may wish to park along the road and continue on foot. An SUV has a good chance of driving most of the way to the summit.
Trail
There is an unofficial loop and parking location that can be found with a bit of research. The trail is a bit difficult to follow at times but given the light underbrush, it is straightforward to regain the trail when lost. The route connects a number of bluffs and lookouts including the summit area.
There is a bit of history hidden between the extensive communication tower installation at the summit. Before all the modern equipment was installed, there was a lone fire lookout tower. The tower itself has been relocated to the Falkland Museum Heritage Park but the foundations and outhouse can still be seen.
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Tahaetkun Mountain is an impressive 2042m summit located north of Terrace Mountain, behind Fintry canyon in the BC Okanagan. It is seldom visited but makes for a pleasant hike for the adventurer who has already done all the rest.
Access
**note that as of Jun 2023, the easiest access via Whitemans Creek FSR (access near Sugarloaf Mt off Westside rd) is CLOSED due to a major washout**
From the north, take Douglas Lake Rd near Westwold. From the south, take the same approach as Terrace Mountain and continue on until joining with Whitemans Creek FSR.
Better yet, just check this map:
It is possible to drive quite far up the road with most vehicles and park within a couple kilometres of the summit. From there it is a bit of a bushwhack until you reach the burn line. There is a bit of scrambling but overall it is relatively short and straightforward to reach the ridgeline.
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Mt Wapiti is Elkford BC's signature hike. Firstly there is some confusion to clear up as to the name of the peak. Various maps label the highest peak Grizzly and others Wapiti. Consensus from locals is that the highest is Wapiti. There isn't even a reason to have a name for the bump just north on the ridge but we'll leave that as Grizzly. See map:
Access
The 'trailhead' starts at the top of the Wapiti Ski Resort. If during daylight hours, it is likely safe to park in the resort parking lot but if at odd hours, consider parking outside the gate incase your vehicle gets locked in. Walk up the resort to the very top-left and there are obvious markings for the trailhead.
The hike wraps around to the back (west side) of the mountain for a grueling climb up the 'avalanche chute'. After gaining the ridge, it is a wonderful walk first to Grizzly Peak and finally to the high point at Wapiti.
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Three sisters is the absolute classic Fernie through-hike. It is a must do. On the classic route, a visit to Bisaro Cave is very much recommended. It is also pleasant to spend a night in the meadow under Three Sisters.
Access
The classic route or 'Heiko's Trail' starts north of Hartley Lake rec site. The road gets worse and worse. It is reasonable to get to the trailhead with an SUV but a 4x4 is recommended. The other end of the trail is near the Island Lake resort which has easy access.
There are a couple alternate routes. First is the 'Three Sisters Trail' which starts a little closer to Hartley Lake. This route is a bit more direct to the Three Sisters area but bypasses Bisaro Cave. Another alternate route is to forego the lacklustre section near Island Lake and instead head on Heiko's rocky road trail past mount Fernie. The Mt. Fernie trail ends just north of (Fernie) town.
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Camping
There isn't much at the official campsite in the meadow below 3 Sisters. Essentially just a picnic table. No bear cache, pit toilet or anything else.
Mt. Fernie addon
Another 'higher peak' in the area that is worth summiting is Mt. Fernie. It is a bit of a scramble but one can walk around the U-shape ridge and back down a different slope. See map for details.
For fire lookout hunters that don't want to get too far off the beaten path, this is the lookout to visit! It's just a short hike off the highway south of 100 Mile House, BC.
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These are mostly around the Okanagan, BC. Lake and river paddling is a great way to get out and explore!
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Oyama Lake has a lot of islands to explore. Some of these are curiously named Lunch Island, #turdisland, and Castaway Island. There is also a little channel connecting north into Streak Lake which has a very remote and peaceful atmosphere. There is a small rec site at the north end of Streak Lake for camping. Many of the islands in Oyama lake also make good camping locations. Of course there is also the resort on Oyama lake which has car-camping and cabins available.
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For over a hundred years, Canada and the United States have collaborated to keep a 6 metre wide clear-cut line stretching the length of the international border between countries. This might be straight-forward in the central prairies but not so in the mountainous areas of BC for example.
Aside from the 'line', there are also around 5,528 boundary 'monuments' stretching the roughly 5000km of land border. Each one is numbered and as expected, many are incredibly remote. It makes for an interesting adventure to hike and find (collect if you will) these boundary monuments as many are findable off hiking trails that approach the international border.
Starting at the western edge of the country, the first monument has a park built around it (Monument Park). It can be found south of Delta, BC on the border with Point Roberts.
There are dozens of minor monuments and some numbered ones along 0 Ave in Abbotsford, BC.
There is an offshoot of the Skyline II trail in E.C. Manning provincial park called Hozomeen Ridge Trail. It is quite the endeavour to venture the length of this trail but it eventually ends up at the US border at the base of the incredible Hozomeen Mountains.
Another one in E.C. Manning Park has a trail named after the monument (guess where the end of the trail is!)
Following the border east, we are still in E.C. Manning Park. A trail leads to the border where there is a mountain peak appropriately named Monument 83 Peak. There are two firewatch towers, one on each side of the border.
This is near the top of Barber Mountain near Nighthawk Crossing west of Osoyoos, BC
Right at the Osoyoos-Oroville border crossing
Not my picture but apparently it is possible to bushwhack to this monument from the American side
Not as obvious to find as # 141 but this is a short detour off the Midway hiking trails.
One of the Midway hiking trails leads up to this monument at the US border.
This one is accessible as a bit of bushwhack near the Midway hiking trails south of town
Near the border crossing south of Midway, BC. It is up on a hill and some hiking is required. It can be seen near the highway at the bottom of the hill.
Near the border crossing at Grand Forks, BC
There are two monuments on the border between Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada and Glacier National Park in the States. We hiked to this once from Waterton on the Lakeshore Trail. You can camp near the border at Border Bay Backcountry Campground.
There is a monument at the West Poplar border crossing in Saskatchewan. We had to take a friend for a 'border-run' a number of years back. To round out the trip we spent some time exploring the nearby Killdeer Badlands.
3 km E of Emerson, Manitoba. Some info here from some other monument adventurers - https://www.jidanni.org/geo/us_can1994/index.html
Sprague area, Manitoba. https://www.jidanni.org/geo/us_can1994/index.html
Moving East, I haven't really figured out how the monument numbering system works. There are a bunch of hikable monuments in Quebec for example but they are numbered in the 300-500 range. Of course some of the first ever monuments were erected in the east so it doesn't look like there is an obvious #1 in BC and something in the thousands at the east.
