Kamloops News

Garden of the Trolls must-see hiking destination in Kamloops

This giant rock is located in Kamloops in an area called the Garden of the Trolls.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

April 13, 2025 – 6:00 AM

Nestled in the Lac du Bois grasslands northeast of Kamloops is a pile of huge boulders with odd, wobbly shapes and pitted with deep dark holes. 

For hikers following along a trail through long grass and conifer trees, the boulders appear suddenly, despite their massive sizes, on a bench on a hill called the Garden of the Trolls.

“Faces appear in the boulders,” reads an excerpt from Kamloops Backcountry Hikes by local author and adventurer Al Budreau. “Their surfaces are heavily pocked with dark holes of various sizes and depths, which gives them a brooding presence and can make you feel as if they are watching as you pass among them.”

Scattered in the grass at the base of a volcanic cliff seen far up a steep hill, the ‘Trolls’ are lumpy, wobbly shaped boulders that loom several metres tall and cast long shadows. Some have deep, dark crevices with short beaten down pathways in them, while some have well worn places to climb on top. 

Located in the Garden of the Trolls in Kamloops, this boulder is made of sharp rocks and hardened lava.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

The surface of the Trolls is hard like cement and full of jagged rock pieces.

“The Trolls are composed of igneous breccia, a rock type formed when pieces of solid, sharp-angled rock become embedded in liquid lava,” Budreau’s book reads.

Along with the goblin-like boulders, the site has views of the mountains and Kamloops Lake, wildflowers and wildlife to see including deer, northern flickers and ruffed grouse. 

The trailhead is located on Tranquille-Criss Creek Road, 5.8 km past the CN Rail crossing at the old Tranquille Sanatorium site east of the city.

There is a pullout to park at on the right side of the road and the 2.4 km return trail starts across the road on the left.

Follow a trail northwest until meeting an old double track. Turn west on the double-track for a short distance, then leave it and continue generally west across the gently rising hillside to the boulder field.

If you know of interesting geological formations to check out in the Thompson-Okanagan region, let us know at news@infonews.ca.

A giant boulder looms above the grasslands in Kamloops.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

Igneous breccia is rock made from sharp stones and hardened lava.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

A boulder in the Lac du Bois grasslands in Kamloops appears to have eyes.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

A path through the Kamloops grasslands leads to giant boulders.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)