Tank Traps, Shmank Traps: A Second Route Emerges

It was a nice cool and clear Sunday so Paul called me to arrange a ride.  We met up at one of our local SBucks and disappeared off towards the usual Weigles Road entrance.  After stopping for a few minutes so that Paul could adjust his Nancy Boy vest heater we bumped into a another bike rider who described an alternative route we could use to avoid the tank traps entrance into the logging roads.  We decided to go in via the traps with the possibility of exploring for the alternative after fishing at Boomerang Lake.

Here's the route we took (1 to 14):

(Click to Enlarge)  The Route from Points 1 to 14

The Route (Zoomed Out)

We got through the very sludgy tank traps after stopping to remove small logs from the nastier section that had been left there by quad riders. We continued along our standard route to the back of Boomerang Lake.  What a surprise when we got there:  Whoaaaaah, who built the dock?  Someone has driven their 4x4 piled with planks of what looks to me like yellow cedar, and they've built an outstanding little fishing ramp/dock on the back side of the lake RIGHT AT MY FISHING SPOT.  I almost wrote them a thank-you note! 

The New Fishing Dock

Way more people out here than usual.

Paul's Broken Rod!  "Oh, it's okay," he says, "I have another just like it at home.  They're my daughters'."  (Say no more).

The Legendary "Gandalf Cast"  Using a Traditional Magic Wand Length Fishing Rod

After having little luck, he later changed into his Hogwarts gear for some heavy duty "Gandalf Casting"

We got fed up after breaking a rod and catching no fish, (although Paul did find some great looking chanterelle mushrooms while off sulking in the woods).  It was time to go exploring and see if we could find that alternate route back to Weigles without using the tank traps.  We rode around Boomerang and kept left at the Y past the lake's standard "boat ramp."  A further left took us through a complete loop after which we explored three more spurs off the main logging road.  The first spur lead to a small quarry area where sandy gravel is taken presumably to build and grade the logging roads.  This area has many hundreds of empty shotgun cartridges where frustrated hunters go to blow off rounds of ammunition for no reason.  The second spur took us above what I am dubbing "Thruxton Lake" after my fantastic Triumph, (although if Mark R. reads this blog it will surely become "Mark Lake" since he has promised to try and join us in the spring).

Overlooking Thruxton Lake

On we went, using Paul's amazing iPhone to point the way towards Weigles Road.  We screamed up a pretty steep hill towards the end which Paul recognised as one he had travelled in the opposite direction with Ryan on a previous ride.  At that point we knew we were pretty close to one of the yellow gates at Weigles Road.
 

Steeper Than it Looks!

  We came out through the same yellow gate that Ryan had taken us through towards the end of the summer.  It was a terrific ride.  I'm not sure that it's any easier than going through the tank traps, but it was a lot of fun and we'll likely take this route many times in the summer.

(Click to Enlarge).  Here's an elevation profile taken from Google Earth.  The chart shows the red "alternative to the tank traps" route from left to right.  It begins at the large red arrow, (393m) and runs the length of the alternate route until it reaches Weigles Rd.

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3D Photo:  View with Red/Cyan 3D glasses.

The Steep Hill in 3D.  WoooooooW!!!