Blackjack Ridge - Over the Top

I've ridden the trails up around Blackjack Ridge a few times now.  The views up there are amazing and it's always worth heading that way if I just have the time for a local ride.  But, every time I head up I stop at the same steep rocky section that heads over the top, leading eventually to the trails near Lucid Lake and the lower road that runs the SW side of Mount Benson.  I decided this time around to come at it from the Lucid Lake side, with a plan to turn back if the rocky, steep section looked too nasty from the top end.

Here's the route:

  
1.  Entered at Doumont
2.  Left towards Boomerang
3.  Left again
4.  Pass Boomerang and keep left
5.  Continued along length of Mt. Benson and turned up road that leads to Lucid Lake
6.  Followed creek bed leading up Blackjack Ridge.
7.  Through new gate.  (Logging roads look very new up here)
8.  Best view on Blackjack Ridge, overlooking Nanaimo Lakes
9.  Another nice spur road with an outstanding view
10.  The steep rocky section... heading down this time
11.  Descent towards Boomerang Lake
12.  Out

The uphill creek bed at #5

 

The creek bed continues like this for about a kilometer
 

New logging gate at #7.  A few newer logging roads connect up here.

 

180° Panoramic view looking SW from the best view location on the ridge (#8).

 

Nice section of spur trail (#9).

 

A shot along the power lines at #9

 
Just past this location the road begins a steep descent towards the spot where I decided against continuing on previous rides (#10).  It's a great deal easier going down, although there are a few spots where I slowed to a miserable crawl.  No pic unfortunately...  It's funny how the thought of photos disappears when your watching your front tire so carefully.  :) 

First and Second Lake from location #8

 Great ride.  I want to return to look at the lake just 0.7 km east of location #8.  Google Earth shows an unnamed, frozen-over lake about half the size of Round Lake.  Next time!

gpx track

kmz track

Finding the Far Shore of Rhododendron Lake

Sebastian and I took a ride out to Rhododendron Lake yesterday to see if we could find the far shore.  Every time we get out to Rhodo Lake, we look across to the other side which appears to offer much better fishing sites since the shoreline looks much wider.  Sebastian had never ridden out that way, so it served a second purpose of familiarizing him with some of the excellent riding trails that we've discovered while exploring the area.

Here's the route:

(Blue Numbers)
1.  Entered on the Doumont Trail
2.  Left towards Boomerang Lake
3.  Right on Boomerang's southern intersection, and right at the next one too
4.  Right... joined the power lines trail
5.  Right onto Okay Mountain valley road
6.  Left towards Rhododendron Lake
7.  Usual Rhodo location.  Short hike to lake
8.  Far side of the lake (See detail above and descriptions below)
9.  Turn right off Englishman River Main onto Branch 142
10.  Doubled back... New plan!  Left Br. 142 and took Okay Lake Trail
11.  The excellent descent towards Boomerang on one of my favourite local trails
12.  A quick visit to the Boomerang fishing site
13.  Back at the Doumont entrance.

(Detail: Green Numbers)
1.  Searching for road into Rhodo Lake
2.  Right turn...  Very clear and obvious trail
3.  Rocky trail with some mud pools at this time of year.  The very final section was a bit more difficult to get up.  We both spun out on a large boulder and both of us needed a push from behind to get out.  Nothing too bad; we were out fairly quickly, but I might park the bike on the upper side of this rock next time.  It's almost right at the fishing site.

Some perspective

There are more fishing spots on this side of the lake, although it's quite shallow off the shore in many of the fishing locations.  There's one good casting spot that is visibly deeper than the others.  I caught two small trout in this location.  Sebastian was fishing off to the right where a long cast is needed to get out to a decent depth.  There were many fish jumping directly ahead of him, so I'm thinking that would be a good bait fishing spot if you used a heavy enough weight to get far enough out.  Definitely a good spot to try again, but a pretty useless spot if anyone beats you out there, (just like the other side).

A not-so-good stitched image made from my GPS photos.  Gives a rough idea of how the lake looks on that side.

Looking left (SE)

Parked near the lake shore

    

Our Route:

Terrific ride...  71km altogether.  Thanks Sebastian!

As the Weather Gets Colder, The List Gets Longer

What do you do when it's too cold, wet or dark to ride up a mountain?  You plan which mountains you're going to ride up when it gets warmer.   Here are four "must do" trips for some time after the melt. 

Click to Enlarge

 Something tells me my local rides aren't going much past Boomerang Lake for a spell.  :) 

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!!!

Auuuuugh... My Bloody Hip!

Great ride today!  I feel like we fooled the weather completely; not a drop of rain for the entire ride.  With that said, there was enough rain sitting in pools and around wet logs to get me flying off my bike.

Here's the route today:

Click Me to Big Me!

We left from Metral Starbucks today and entered the logging roads from the usual direction: We decided to risk going through the tank traps again, boggy pools and all.  Paul wanted to show me an alternate route to Nanaimo Lakes Rd. via the logging trail that leads to the Boomerang "boatramp."  We turned right at the Boomerang Lake Y junction and headed through some really great twisty logging roads, (pink on the map).  That is, without doubt, one of the better local trails in that neck of the woods.  We ended up joining onto Nanaimo Lakes Road at an open gate very near to the main First Lake entrance.  It's a far better ride than my earlier "Behind Benson" route.  We both had our rods with us and we decided to head towards Second Lake where I had seen some pretty busy swirling fish action a week ago.

Second Lake was alive with rising fish again today.  We both clambered down a steep embankment just past the Second Lake Bridge and fished there for about half an hour.  It was frustrating as hell watching masses of bloody fish swirl on the surface while casting into them with every lure in the tackle box.  We both left with nothing but tired legs from climbing the embankment.

First Lake looking right from the fishing spot

Looking left from fishing spot

 We clambered back onto our bikes and flew off down the half gravel logging road to Fourth Lake, (which we nearly missed because some clown has knocked over the sign).  We fished to the right of last weekend's spot.

A normal photo of Paul fishing at Fourth Lake.  He was practicing his highly unusual, (and slightly anti-social), "Gandalf cast" this afternoon, but I wasn't lucky enough to capture it on camera.  Look at those two rising trout to the left.  Trust him to be looking the other way.

Fourth Lake

I caught two monsters in there!  I assure you they would have appeared as monsters to any passing mosquito larvae.  I chucked 'em back in.  Paul claims to have caught a 13" trout of over two pounds, although I never did actually see it.  The only evidence of the catch was his constant flitting around on a nearby rock with a cheap wooden handled knife.  Should you visit his blog I suggest both comparing his new trout shot with earlier posted photographs in addition to heedful checks for flakey Photoshopping technique.

We returned to Weigles Road the same way we had come.  The ride back was equally as good as the ride out to the lakes until we hit the Tank Traps.  I'm well aware that motorbike tires have no traction when riding over wet logs when approached at an angle... did that stop me?  No, I made a stupid error and cleared one of the wet traps only to glance off a small wet log at about 45° as I reached the top.  I dumped it, bending my brake lever and bruising my right hip.  That %^@#& hurt!!  I beeped my horn to get Paul's attention and luckily he heard me and did an about face, leaving his bike between mud holes while carefully placing his helmet where it would roll into one of the muddy pools.  No big damage, except for a lever, a bent mirror, and my damaged dignity... I can live with that.

(Photo courtesy of Paul). The Helmet.  Nothing will ever prevent Paul from being a bit wet behind the ears.  Unfortunately there is no shot of the downed bike.  I wasn't in the mood for photographs, so kudos to Paul for at least taking a snap of his own misfortune.

 Altogether it was a really good ride.  That twisty logging road will be great fun in the summer!

Oh, I nearly forgot...  Here's another cheesy 3D anaglyph image.  (You'll need red/cyan glasses):

View Full Size.  3D view (Made from GoogleEarth images) of the area surrounding Fourth Lake

Boomerang Tail Snagger

I took off this morning and fished for a few hours at Boomerang Lake.  There were lots of nibbles today and after thirty minutes I pulled in a very small trout.  I would have liked to return this little one to the lake, but it refused to spark back to life after I removed the hook.  (Honest).

Kinderfish

It was beautiful out there!

It was very quiet for the first half hour... No guns, no motorbikes, quads...  aaaaaah.

The bites slowed right down after an hour, so I took a break and took a few photographs. After a few shots of the lake and surrounding area I thought it would be fun to video myself casting.  I set my camera up on a log and went back to the fishing.  Wouldn't you know it, I got a bite on the second cast!  This guy must have been swirling around my spinning lure because I snagged him right on the tail:

 

I managed to get this one back in the lake before the hooded chap with the big scythe got a hold of him.

So that was it for fishing today.  I had enough for the cat and so I made my way back towards the tank traps to go home.  When I reached the turn off I changed my mind;  the weather was so great I decided to blast up to the Sundew Gate.  What a glorious day for it!

The gate was locked as usual, although I was a bit surprised to see it since the logging roads were crawling all over with trucks loading firewood.  I sneaked around the gate through the new get-around trench.  Great ride.

Okay Lake/Sundew Tour

(Click Image to Enlarge)  Today's Route:  Points 1 thru 10

 
We had a really good ride today.  Paul and I met at Starbucks shortly after 8:00am and set out for Boomerang Lake via Weigles Road.  We fished for an hour or so, perhaps longer, and then decided to pack it in and go on a search for the nearby Okay Lake to continue our fishing.

Paul looking unusually happy

Willing the cast to go further by cleverly extending the left fingers in what Paul likes to call the "Gandalf Cast."  (He was actually wearing his Gryffindor hat today).

An osprey watches our fishing at Boomerang Lake

Okay Lake from the end of the trail

Loads of parking space... even a turn-around loop for trucks!

We found the lake quickly, only to discover that it's practically impossible to fish Okay Lake from the shore.  A fisherman who had also left Boomerang informed us that the rear of Okay lake is also covered in marsh land and is equally poor for shore fishing.  So we just went for a ride instead!


We retraced our steps until we reached an intersection we had passed on our way to Okay Lake and turned right onto what looked like a trail that would go around the lake.  I really enjoyed this section of our ride; the narrow trail wound up towards Okay Mountain, turned north and took us 13.5 Km. until it met up with Branch 142, a major branch of the 155 main that meets the Island Highway.

Heading up towards Okay Mountain:  A slightly upward section with a great road surface.

 

Continuing along the side of Okay Mountain

An elevation profile of the salmon coloured line starting from the large red arrow.  (The matching elevation chart below the map flows from left to right).

We decided to turn right and follow the road that leads to Sundew Gate, (at Sundew Place).  We followed Branch 142 back to "Intersection B" then through "Intersection A," and on past Round Lake to Triumph Lake.  As we continued we passed a few "controlled" slash burns on the way, and stopped to warm up at one because I'm too cheap to buy a warming vest.  (It was worth the stop even if just to hear Paul's riveting story of how a Boomerang Lake slug nearly took off with his bag of nuts.  It's stories like these that amount to folklore in his family).

Slash Burning

Further along... A bigger burn

Plenty of heat coming off these... and...

...plenty of O₂ Emissions!!!

 
We continued along the Sundew Road and turned left to revisit the bivouac I had seen earlier in the week, only taking the time to continue on this spur road until it reached a dead-end.  (My riding glasses STILL mark the spot).

Bivouac Re-lived

The start of a pretty steep climb up to the dead-end

 

It's an outstanding view from up here.  That's Nanoose.

 

The ride back down

 

An approximate look at the trail past the bivouac.  (Strange glitch in my elevation chart:  We didn't actually fall 25m instantly like that).  :)   The 47.6% max. slope shown on this chart is approximately 25°.

We returned down the hill and turned left to continue once again to Sundew Gate.  Interestingly, Paul informed me that the gate had been replaced by a new gate in a slightly different location.  This answered my question about a more difficult to traverse "get-around" than Paul had photographed earlier.  The way through this new gate is indeed harder, although we made it through with little difficulty... soft sand and all.

The new gate work-around.  You follow that trench of soft sand on the left side of the photo.

The other side of the trench.  That sand is pretty soft and deep.

We ended the tour with a highway ride back to Starbucks north where we continued to stress our kidneys with yet another vat of coffee.  Terrific ride!