Another Way into the Lantzville Foothills

Paul and I were going to head out towards Rhododendron Lake today and explore some of the roads we pass out that way.  Unfortunately he wrenched his back waving his English flag just as the winning Italian goal was scored.  ("Was that the ball going in off the post?"  "No it was Paul's back").  Next time Paul!  Really am sorry to hear about your back...  Honest! 

I decided instead to see if I could enter the Lantzville foothills from the entrance off of Aulds Rd/Old Logging Rd.  The entrance is well gated, but a small trail has been made 100m before the gate on the left.  I entered on this trail and so, I was unable to read the sign on the yellow gate.  It was probably some kind of "Welcome to the Lantzville Foothills," sort of thing.

 Here's today's route:

And... here's the day in brief:
 
1.  Entered through left trail off Old Logging Rd.  (Left turn off Aulds Rd.  See photo two above).
2.  Explored many of the Lantzville Foothills trails.  Great climbs!  Great wildlife from snakes to 1" baby  quails with FRANTIC parents.  Quite overgrown in some parts.
3.  Lantzville F.H. gate open again.
4.  Took a right off Bonnell Main that I've often passed.  It's the turn right before the road that goes to the NE side of Kidney Lake, (when heading SW).
5.  Quite overgrown towards the end.  Stopped at an extremely steep section and returned to 142.
6.  Out towards Boomerang Lake.  I had a plan to make GPS tracks of a couple of new roads out past the lake, but it started to rain.  I'm wanting at least five unrecorded roads to upload to my map provider, so I can get the next upgrade for free.  Next time, I guess!
7.  Stopped off at the open area just past the Doumont Trail's "tank traps" to see what's out there.  I never look in this area because usually I'm enroute to some other spot.  What a horror story:  It's a shotgun shell graveyard with targets of all types hanging off trees, logs and various other bits and pieces.  I left when two cowboys and a hot blonde arrived with a truck load of guns and a few full boxes of shells.  Good thing lead pellets are a thing of the past!  What bothers me about this spot most of all is the location of targets right next to a walking/cycling trail.   
8.  Zipped into the Nanaimo Motocross Assoc. to watch a few bikes fly over the track.  Really great!  Too bad the gate was locked shut when I tried to leave!  Five minute wait... no prob.

Up high in the foothills

Looking East towards Gabriola Island from high in the foothills

A small sample of the plethora of shotgun shell casings left near the Doumont Trail

The GPS track "walk through":

Google Earth "Flyover" of today's trails:

      

iPod Time lapse movie of some trails in the Lantzville Foothills:

So, we can ride the foothills without having to worry about a locked gate on the other side stopping us from getting out.  There's one short steeper section coming in from the "Aulds" entrance that might give a bit of grief going the other way.  Easy downhill in a loose packed clay coming in, but you'd need to belt up it pretty fast to get out without spinning the rear tire.  Probably do-able.

37.3km of logging roads today.