The Trails Behind Blackjack Lake

Great ride this evening.  I set out with a simple and relatively small plan:  I wanted to check the trail that leads to the back side of Blackjack Lake, (the SW side).  I was about to set up my GPS and enter the Doumont Trail when another rider, Sebastian,  stopped to talk to me.  He recognized my bike and asked me if I was the writer of this blog!  What a great surprise it was to meet one of my four readers!  :)  Sebastian has just purchased his 2011, 650 KLR (Kawi), and he was up at the Doumont Trail getting another look at the local trails.  We chatted for a while and decided to head out together to find the trails into the back of Blackjack Lake.

We found a camping area, complete with two dumped couches at the lake edge and got right to the edge of the lake using a series of stumps and pallets that some helpful person had layed out.  No room for fishing there although it would be easily possible with hip waders.  I don't think it's a stocked lake, so there's a good chance that it wouldn't be worth trying.

The lake entrance.  Good camping spot

Stepping Stumps leading to the lake edge

Pristine lake!  No eurasian milfoil here!

A 170 degree panoramic image of Blackjack Lake.  This didn't work out; it's a stitched pano made from my GPS, which has a little difficulty matching the light when I attempt to join the photos. 

 
We chatted again at the lake side and the subject of getting to Parksville without using any highway came up.  I mentioned the route up to Sundew Gate that would allow you to get from Nanaimo to Parksville with minimal use of the highway.  So, what better thing to do next than ride to the Sundew Gate!

We returned along the newly discovered "behind Blackjack" trail and made our way back towards Boomerang Lake, Round Lake and then onto the Sundew Trail.  Lovely ride!

After going through the gate's "work around," we decided that a return trip back through the way we came would be more fun than blasting down the highway back to Nanaimo.  Back we went.  We were back through the Tank Traps and the Doumont Trail well before sundown.  Got home around 9pm.  It's great to finally have some light in the evenings!

For a guy with only 400+km on his machine, Sebastian is a very good rider.  We traveled at a really good pace throughout the ride.  I was much slower during my early logging road rides.  We traded contact numbers.  I'm hoping Sebastian will join Paul and myself on some future rides!

The route

Download GPX track

Download KMZ track