Armstrong Spallumcheen Trails Society

06/11/2026

Help the ASTS Celebrate Monashee Outdoors 10th Anniversary!
Come downtown on Sat, June 13th to help us support and celebrate 10 years that Monashee Outdoors has been in Armstrong. We've been invited to have our tent set up outside their store from 11 am to 3 pm.

Here's what's happening!
ON SATURDAY JUNE 13,
JOIN US FOR FREE CAKE AND MORE!

Mark your calendars on Saturday, June 13th from 11:00am–3:00pm for a fun-filled day of food, outdoor inspiration, and anniversary celebrations at Monashee Outdoors!
Come learn about JetBoil cooking systems and see them in action while meeting Marius, owner of Backcountry Gourmet from Revelstoke. You’ll have the chance to sample some of his delicious backcountry meals that are so good, you may want them for everyday eating too! Bernie’s Turbo Spice will also be joining us with tasty samples to try!

We’ll also be celebrating our 10 Year Anniversary with complimentary locally made cake from PV Blvd (with gluten free options available!), plus plenty of in-store promotions, giveaways, and community connections.

The Armstrong Spallumcheen Trails Society will also be on-site to chat about local trails, memberships, and volunteer opportunities!

Bring your friends and family and come celebrate with us while enjoying everything happening throughout the store!

06/09/2026

06/06/2026

It’s BC Trails Day today! Get out and explore all of the amazing trails that make our community great. The Armstrong Spallumcheen Trail Society works to maintain, improve and expand the trail network. Let us know what you get up to on by tagging us in pictures of your hike/ride/walk today.

You can also submit your pics for a chance to win great gear and mtn bike passes at orcbc.ca/bctrailsday-contest

Join us on IG

06/02/2026

Planning to get outdoors this weekend? Your photo could win you a great prize.

BC Trails Day celebrates all of the great trails to explore in the province. Are you using a trail in the Armstrong Spallumcheen area? Hiking up Rose Swanson? Exploring Thomas Hayes Park? Riding your bike out in the forest?

Share your photos and Tag us to celebrate all of the great trails in our community . AND submit the photo to the Outdoor Rec Council of BC at www.orcbc.ca/bctrailsday-contest for a chance to win a Patagonia pack or bike passes at Silverstar or Red Mountain.

05/30/2026

Greater Celandine Invasive Plant Bash in Thomas Hayes Ecological Park
Yesterday was the big day! If I'm correct there was a line in the book "The Little Engine That Could" that stated "First the wind, then the rain, then a cow in the middle of the tracks!" Well, it wasn't quite that bad but we did have rain and mosquitoes and what seemed like a never ending patch of Celandine!

We had 31 people on-site yesterday, thanks in a huge part to Rob, his 2 assistants and his Awaken Inquiry and Adventure Okanagan (AIAO) class from Clarence Fulton Secondary School in Vernon (22 people), but not forgetting, thanks also to Jacquie, Rob, Linda, Bev, 4 ASTS Board members (Wilma, Andrej, Nick and Marge) and Hallie from the Invasive Species Council. We certainly couldn't have accomplished what we did without the many hands that helped to tackle this problem.

We met in the parking lot at 10 am and then hiked ~1 km to the site. What was different this time then the last time we tackled this invasive plant was that it was already going to seed. Before we could just pull the plant and place it on a downed log off the ground. This time we had to pull the long slender seed pods off the plant and put that into a bag before leaving the plant on a log. Much more time consuming! But if we didn't pull the seed pods we would be wasting our time.

It was great being with the AIAO class (Grades 7-12) as there was lots of chatting and even some singing to keep us going. Another quote "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!" We took a break for lunch and then jumped right back into it before heading back to the parking lot just after 1:30 pm as the bus was there for a 2 pm return to Vernon. All of the bags with the seed pods were brought out and the AIAO class held a reflection circle where everyone got to say what they enjoyed or didn't about the event. Most everyone said they enjoyed their time despite the rain, cool weather and mozzies and pointed out good attributes like teamwork and resilience. Another quote sums things up "I thought I could, I thought I could!"

Everyone felt that it was good to be doing something worthwhile for the environment. Well done everyone! Thanks also to Hallie for taking our seed pod bags to our local landfill! The ASTS will be keeping an eye on this invasive plant, now that we know it's there.

05/26/2026

Another Great Day on Mt Rose Swanson!
Three of us needed an excuse to go for a hike today so we decided to make it a trail clear/trailside pruning and enjoy the cooler weather/light showers/stop and look at the wildflowers kind of day!! There was only 1 other vehicle in the parking lot when we arrived at 9 am and started up Centennial.

We trimmed overhanging vegetation along the way and with the help of another hiker we physically picked a log up that was across the trail and pushed it into the bush. No cutting necessary! Hiking up Jackpine to Miller's Bluff, overlooking Armstrong, we started seeing lots of wildflowers. Beautiful! Our task at the lookout was to cleanup the barrier that we erected last year to stop people from hiking on the steeper old Jackpine route. We removed the sign and as many of the timber screws that we could. We also resurrected the old Miller's Bluff sign that was created in 1977 and screwed it to a tree at that location.

We met someone at the top who used to hike with Johnny and he told us that Johnny cleared Jackpine a few days ago. We decided to go this way anyways. Johnny, you missed one!! A bit more pruning along the way. Boy did the air smell good with the light shower! We stopped often to ID the flowers and take photos. Before we knew it we were on Mt Rose and saw the Turners Terrace sign - another remnant from the 1977 trail building crew.

Carrying on we enjoyed our hike as everything was so green. We even got to use the Silky Gomboy saw on a Lodgepole log and then counted the rings ~ 80 yrs old. We finally ended back on Centennial and headed to the viewpoint looking S. Along the way we saw the Pauls Plunge sign. A tree is gradually engulfing it as only 'Plunge' is visible now. By now it was lunchtime so we enjoyed the view from Peter's bench. After checking the outhouse and replenishing the toilet paper we headed down Aspen, did some more pruning, and after 1 1/2 hrs or so we were back in the parking lot. All told we met 9 other people out enjoying the day.

It was a great day for a hike with the cooler, showery weather and the wildflowers were beautiful! We even stopped to smell the roses!!

05/23/2026

June 6 is BC Trails Day!

Will you be using the trails around Armstrong and Spallumcheen? Share where your feet / tires / hooves take you on June 6 by posting pictures of your crew out on any of the Armstrong Spallumcheen trails. Tag us here (Armstrong Spallumcheen Trail Society) here and on our new IG account

Let’s show off all the great trails, views, flora, and fauna in our great community.

05/22/2026

It's Confirmed!! A Huge Invasive Greater Celandine Bash in Thomas Hayes Ecological Park
The ASTS has a huge w**d pull planned for this coming week. Lots of people have been contacted and the response has been amazing - but we still want to invite more as we really want to BASH this problem plant! Come and help us please!!

Date: Friday, May 29th
Time: 10 am - 2 pm
Meet: 1249 Thomas Hayes Rd, Spallumcheen in the parking lot
What to bring: gloves, water, lunch and appropriate dress for the weather.

We will not be digging or bagging this plant, rather, it pulls out easily, roots and all. We have been told to place the plants on a downed log and not to let it touch the ground so it won't re-root. The only word of caution is that the orange sap shouldn't get on your skin or in your eyes as it is an irritant, hence gloves and maybe even a long sleeve shirt.

Please pass the word around for this event. The more folks that can attend, the greater the area we will be able to cover and hopefully put a dent in its spread. There's quite a large patch at the N end of the Park and this will be our last chance to tackle it before it goes to seed.
We hope to see many people out to help us a week from today as many hands make light work!

05/19/2026

Another Productive Work Party in Thomas Hayes Ecological Park
The ASTS had another work party planned for this morning - some educational sign installation and starting to tackle the invasive Greater Celandine. It was a cooler morning with a few drops of rain so very good weather wise! Six of us showed up at the parking lot at 9:30 am, loaded 2 wheelbarrows with tools and sign materials and off we went.

The 6 signs were installed first (more sign installation at a future date) - 2 groups each with a wheelbarrow - divide and conquer, right? It didn't take long to put them in the ground. We then met on Coyote Loop at the N end of the Park.

There's a huge patch of Greater Celandine that Jerry, our botanist, ID'ed on an earlier fieldtrip that extends a good distance W to the junction of Coyote Loop and Chickadee Way. It is easy to pull this plant out of the ground, roots and all, and Jerry said to pile them on the downed logs and keep them off the ground so they don't regrow. We gave it a good shot and covered a fair bit of ground but there is a lot more to do. The plant is flowering right now and hasn't gone to seed yet so there is still time for another work party or 2 before the end of the month. It would be great if we could get a large group out to help us so we are going to see what we can arrange. It would really be nice to stop this plant from spreading. Can you help us? We will post about another invasive w**d bash if it can be arranged.

All in all a good morning - fresh air, good company, a hike and doing something good for the Park as well!!

05/01/2026

Invasive Plant Bash - Thomas Hayes Ecological Park
What an unexpected bonus at this morning's Bash!! Not only did we have 2 plant experts help us ID plants and give us tidbits of information (a huge thanks to Jerry and Daryl!!) but we had 4 gals show up unexpectedly from the Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Society based in Penticton. Thanks to Sophia, Olivia, Breanna and Mika for coming all this way to help us!! That made 11 of us.

Even though this was billed as a Scotch thistle/Burdock Bash, it quickly morphed into other invasive plant species. Yes, we found quite a bit of burdock but only found 4 Scotch thistle plants! Either we did such a good job at removing thistles last year or they weren't big enough for us to see them.

One invasive plant that we didn't even know existed in TH, but it was quickly pointed out by Jerry and Daryl, was Greater Celandine. It's a member of the poppy family. We pulled everything we found at the junction of Coyote Loop and Chipmunk Cutoff. At this point we split into 2 groups so we could cover all of the trails. We ended up finding huge patches of it at the N end of Coyote Loop that we didn't touch as we would have been there all day. We will have to have another work party to tackle that location.

We also learned about Black Knotted fungus (common fungal disease of Prunus trees (hard swollen black galls (tumor like) that forms on branches and trunks)), Barestem Biscuitroot (native plant that is in the carrot family and also know as Indian celery) and Wild Sarsaparilla (in the ivy family and also native to our area).

After a couple of hours we were back at the parking lot. A great morning as we did some 'bashing' but we also learned a lot!!