Blue Grouse Mountain
March 20, 2019
1286m
Kelowna, BC
Blue Grouse Mountain is one of the several “major summits” immediately next to the town of Kelowna in the interior of British Columbia. This area is not known for rugged mountainous landscape but rather the immense Okanagan Lake and the sunnier weather. I decided to hike up Blue Grouse Mtn. on the second day of this past spring break vacation. The standard route follows a communication tower road all the way to the top and the access is from Bear Creek FSR. I slept in my truck in the middle of a McDonalds’ parking lot and had a warm breakfast before making the drive to the west side of Okanagan Lake. The 4 km of driving on Bear Creek FSR was in excellent conditions and I parked at the desired spot without an issue. In fact I could have driven partway up the spur road but decided to not risk it.

Blue Grouse Mountain hiking route. GPX DL
I carried snowshoes but ended up not needing them. This road is fairly heavily travelled by 4×4 and snowmobile enthusiasts but not coming from the local areas I had little idea. Without the snowmobile traffic I would definitely need snowshoes that’s for sure. There was some intermittent views on the lower half of the hike, but the upper sections were heavily wooded. The summit had some nice views as expected. Other than the basic statistics: ~6 km distance with over 600 m elevation gain there isn’t much to add.
I lingered for at least an hour on the summit before leisurely making my way down. The hike down was fast and fluent and I made no stop. It was not even noon when I got back to the truck.
Since there’s so much time to kill I decided to hike up Mt. Boucherie to see more of the area.