Mount Boucherie is a unique mountain located in the heart of West Kelowna, BC. It’s tan, grey and pink bluffs and unique rock formations give us clues of a once tumultuous past. A very long time ago Mount Boucherie was a towering volcano! Over time this volcano remnant was slowly eroded by glaciers to its current high.
The official park entrance for Mount Boucherie is located at the Eain Lamont Park, and getting to this park can be a bit tricky. To find the park entrance take the exit for Hudson Road from Highway 97 in West Kelowna, then take a right turn onto Guidi Road. Follow Guidi Road until you reach a T with Trevor Road, take another right. Trevor Road will turn into Lakeview Cove Road, continue down the road until you read another T, take a right. On the left side of the road, tucked back a bit, there will be a parking lot and sign for Eain Lamont Park. Don’t take a right too early on Lakeview Cove Road otherwise you will be driving up a private road.
The parking area at Eain Lamont Park is decent and there is an information kiosk there… with no information in it. In fact, there’s a bit of mystery surrounding Mount Boucherie right now. For one, there is no information currently listed for this area on the Regional District Parks and Trails website. The park (listed as number ten) has disappeared from the list. However, we did notice a proposed development sign near the trailhead. After a bit of digging I discovered that Vineyard Estates Development is planning a significant development (about 200 homes) on the south-eastern side of the mountain! The Friends of Mt. Boucherie are advocating that the trails of Mount Boucherie be preserved for everyone to use. You can check out their Facebook page for more information.
On to the hike! We started our hike by taking the wide gravel trail going left from the parking lot. This trail meanders up for a ways until is reaches a large silver dome. Right before the silver dome the trail forks in several directions. There are many trails on Mount Boucherie and many are unmarked. The trail going right, near the silver dome, is one of the quicker trails to the top. We didn’t know this at the time so we walked straight onwards on the wide dirt two-track trail that used to be a reservoir access road.
Along this trail we discovered a right veering trail with a blue arrow sign posted to a tree. My kids like arrows so we followed the trail and found the Andesite Grinder trail, a short black diamond 1017 meter trail that has a steep 144 meter climb up the mountain side. It’s steep trail and rocky in spots but only my youngest (5) needed a bit of help at times. Near the top of this trail it comes to a T, we followed the trail (and pink and orange flagging tape) right to the peak of Mountain Boucherie and a amazing 360 degree view of Kelowna. After enjoying the view we backtracked a bit and found an alternative trail down. This was the same trail that veered right at the dome. Ahah!
Mount Boucherie is a really neat place for a family hike. The interesting geological features and amazing view from the top make the steep climb well worth it. One downside to this park is the limited trail markers and the plethora of trails! While it would be pretty difficult to truly get lost you may end up taking the scenic route up and down, or go down the opposite side you hiked up (oops!). We ended up doing a 4.3 km loop to the top and back which took us about two hours. It was a really nice hike on a cool spring day but it’s quite exposed in spots and could be uncomfortable hot in the summer months.
I hope that the trails of Mount Boucherie continue to be accessible for families to explore in the years to come. It’s truly a unique spot, one that’s well worth being preserved.
1 comment
Good post with good information. Thanks for writing this.