A few readers of both Dr. Siouxsie and this blog may remember the Key Trail which we found and rode for couple of seasons. It was a way into the Nanaimo Lakes Road territory from the Northwest Bay Logging division without having to use the traditional (gated) route via 2nd Lake. But it was long, rough going at times, and the actual "Key Trail" and subsequent route down towards Third Lake was choked with alder whippers. We gave up on that trail and have looked for various ways though since. Yesterday, I found one...sort of...
Above (click to enlarge) The red trail is yesterday's ride. The green trail is the old "Key" trail, so called because it was better than a key to the second lake gate...
Above: Turn left at 155-160, which is signed off 155 a few km past the hydrolines...keep on that extremely well groomed trail, and follow it to the end. The views and ride are stunning. The connector waypoint at the bottom leads right to Moriarty Lake and the trails beyond...all the way to Nanaimo Lakes road near Third Lake. It is blocked with 4 or 5 large logs, but where there is a will there is a way...
GPX File can be downloaded here. Apologes for the quality of the return track. The GPS seemed to lose it's position and jump around. The waypoint is a little off, but just ride down 155 and you will see the sign post on the left "155-160". Take it. A DR, KLR or Vstrom could make this ride easily, it's wide well surfaced and well graded. A caution - they are working on this trail, and towards the end you will see the equipment, and the blasting caps. Weekends only.
Pics and Vids: I was pressed for time, so sorry for the lack of stills, particularly of the Moriarty trail...I'll be back soon and will flesh out this entry...
Alternative Tank Traps...
A tree has been felled in an alleged attempt to block access, again. There were some rocks. Rolling over was easy. Shoddy workmanship by Tim Berwest again.
Marshall Creek Bridge has been dismantled...
Above and Below...Rode over this a couple of years ago. Plenty of strength left then...
Above: Marshall Lake: the water is very low right now, super clear and the fish were jumping everywhere while I was there. The trail up is in good repair and easily accessible by bike.
Below: 155-197 Spur. A steep but easy and rewarding ascent - you really climb! Views are stunning (iPhone doesn't do it justice...)
155-197 Spur - the end of the line. This is what looks like the cribbing that I point up at from the Marshall route further south in the video below.
Time lapse you tube video of the ride...Click settings and choose 1080 HD
Google Earth Flyover of this track:
[Andy's Edit: 21/09/2014]
Really felt like I was missing out here, and so I did this route to Moriarty Lake yesterday to try out the new logging road that Paul mentioned. Fantastic ride... "The Moriarty Highway." No point in repeating this route with a new blog entry, so...
It's been about a month since I had a good ride. An old back injury revisited me after hiking up DeCosmos on our last ride together. I've been keeping off my feet as much as I can since then, but after picking up some decent pain medication that prevents me from emptying multiple bottles of the off-the-shelf stuff and having waiting for my back to recover considerably, I'm ready for a ride once again. No Paul about! Off sailing... How la-di-dah! (I can see the cucumber sandwiches with their crusts cut off). Then I guess it's a solo ride.
Beautiful views along the serpentine "Moriarty Highway"
Approaching the lake from the upper road
Moriarty Lake from the road blockage. (The road block is the pile of logs on the far left)
The road block prevents you from riding down to the lake, although it's walkable.
From what I can see, this blockage scuttles any chances of getting through to the roads that lead into the Nanaimo Lakes area. I guess we have to start looking!
Mama black bear and her cubs. Saw these guys on the return trip about 5 or 6km from the lake. I was sure I had seen three cubs, but I guess not.
Made a quick visit to Rhododendron Lake and checked out the progress of the roads that appeared as if they're traveling towards Okay Mountain valley. They don't connect yet, although there's now a cool trail that climbs a dead-end spur with good views of Okay Mt. I took our usual route through the valley, back to the power lines, past Boomerang Lake and eventually Doumont using the original tank traps route.
Red shows track available from link directly above, (Doumont Rd to Moriarty Lake), and blue shows my return route. The elevation profile shows the red track only, with the red arrow locating the highest point at 1023m (3356ft).
Doumont Rd to Moriarty Lake: Colour Coded Elevation Track
Here's the whole ride from Doumont Rd to Moriarty lake in time-lapse at 4x speed:
And, the tank traps through the original route at 3x speed.
Holy cow... No blog updates for a while now! This one was such a great ride it must be recorded. Paul and I have been waiting to do this ride for quite some time. I found reference to a gold mine for sale in the Mt. DeCosmos area towards the end of the riding season last year. Now that we have found a tried and true route into the Nanaimo Lakes region without having to use a gate, we decided the time was finally right to go and find this mine. Actually we attempted to get there a week earlier following trails along the north side of Decosmos from the power lines, but the trail didn't look too friendly. We walked it and managed to reach the DeCosmos road and we quite likely could have got the bikes through the rocky trail, but we just didn't welcome the struggle. So, on Sept 29th we made our way through the standard Moriarty Lake route using what we have come to call "the key trail."
Here's our route to #19 (the mine) and back to the starting point at Doumont Rd:
1. Stopped and watched some amazing young riders flying over the track at the Nanaimo Motocross Assoc. (Wastelands). Very skillful riders on that track. We met up with Ryan there, who was able to join us on his 450 KTM. VERY nice bike! 2. Through the tank traps. 3. Left turn on Branch 142 towards Boomerang Lake. 4. Past Boomerang Lake, turned right and then right again towards the power lines route. 5. Headed NW along the power lines. 6. Right turn to follow Okay Mountain Valley, (on west side of mountain). 7. Left onto 155 main. Got to try Ryan's KTM here... WOW! 8. Turned left off of 155 towards mountain ridge NE of Moriarty Mountain onto 155N. 9. Left turn towards mountain ridge. 10. Ridge Trail NE of Mt. Moriarty 11. Turned right onto "key trail" linking the northern logging roads to the
southern roads (thanks Google E). There's a nasty downhill section full
of young alders shortly after this location. (Might not be easily accessible if quaders don't hurry up and help us in keeping the trail usable). 12. Down through alders. 13. Left turn towards Healy Lake. This was a failed attempt to get through to the DeCosmos roads by cutting past Healy Lk. 14. We stopped briefly at the lake to take a look: Catch and release with non-barbed hooks here. Daily limit=0. 15. Past the lake it began to get pretty steep and rocky. Too rich for my blood! Ryan had little trouble blasting through this section on his KTM, but Paul and I would have had much greater difficulty. Do-able I think, but not without pushing and pulling each other. :( Much easier to continue through Nanaimo River Road. 16. Back onto the main trail and downhill to Nanaimo River Road. 17. Left turn at the beginning of Second Lake to follow the road leading up Mt. DeCosmos. 18. Right turn onto mine trail and a sharp left again up a well grown in trail that begins to climb a bit steeper.
19. We reached the Deadhorse Creek Gold Mine. The narrow trail comes to an abrupt end where it meets the creek. You can see the mine opening from here if you look slightly upwards at about 2 o'clock. You need to climb down into the creek bed, which is about 15ft below you. Someone has very kindly attached a couple of ropes to a tree to help you climb down about ten feet. Once down, the entrance is clearly visible to your right and easy to reach. (It has a flat roof, which I found a bit surprising). We entered the mine for about 50m and encountered a vertical ventilation shaft that lets a good deal of light in. From here there are a couple of spurs leading off in different directions.
We discovered that Paul had acquired a large metal staple in his rear tire. It was pretty clear that a gentle ride out would be the best fix. Excellent bit of riding on his part, not only in protecting the rim from damage, but staying upright on a tire with broken beads down a pretty bumpy trail.
20. Luckily, the yellow gate was opened by a truck ahead of us and we escaped through without needing to retrace our route heading north. We turned left shortly after the main gate and continued towards Doumont on logging roads once more. 21. Continued along the SW side of Blackjack Ridge. 22. Right towards Boomerang Lake. 23. Thru the Tank Traps and out to Doumont to put Paul's sick bike onto Ryan's truck. ;)
Here's some photos:
Healy Lake
Parked at Healy Lake
The end of the trail leading up to Deadhorse Creek. You gotta wonder how that staple managed to get up there. Surely nobody would be stupid enough to keep riders away from looking at a mine by puncturing their tires?
Climbing down into the creek bed
Climbing down using the ropes. You can see the entrance to the mine in this shot: Look at the tree on the right. Now look between the two sets of main branches on the left side of this tree. The darker spot in the gap between is the mine opening.
You can see the mine entrance a little clearer here. Ryan is pointing his camera directly at it. I'm standing at the bottom of the ropes where we climbed down.
The mine entrance, (lit by daylight). Square!? I thought rounded would have been stronger/safer. What do I know?
In the mine. Looking back towards the entrance.
Looking up. This is a vertical shaft about 50m into the mine. Pretty wet here... Lots of water dripping into the mine from this spot. There were a couple of rotting timbers that appeared to be carrying some load at this location. Good time to watch your step a bit more carefully. Tons of ventilation happening... No worries about gasses, although I guess that's more of a coal mine problem.
Oh, another shot of the entrance, like it's any different when you're on the way out.
Ryan at the entrance and Paul further back making ridiculous "scary faces" with his little Walmart flashlight.
Detail view of the road past Healy Lk. where we turned back.
Detail view of the DeCosmos road that begins left, right before Second Lake. The top shows the right turn onto the mine road and the following left turn up towards the mine.
Outstanding ride! Highly recommended!
(Updated route to this mine with a downloadable track can be found here).
Last winter Paul blogged about a route to Heart Lake that he was keen on trying. Heart Lake is situated at an approx altitude of 860m on the eastern side of Green Mountain, about 30km SW of downtown Nanaimo. Yesterday Paul, Sebastian and I headed out to find Heart Lake on what is becoming a standard route for us:
1. Began at Doumont Road and went through the tank traps before turning left. 2. Travelled over the new bridge... No new yellow gate :) 3. Turned right at Boomerang Lake's southern intersection. 4. Followed power lines trail. (Many improvements have been made to the roads here... The loggers may be busy soon). 5. Turned right off of power lines route onto Okay Mt. valley road. 6. Turned left onto 155 Main. 7. Turned left onto 155N. 8. Travelled up the ridge road. (It was cloudy and rainy today... No views of Mt. Moriarty).
Blueberries on the ridge road
9. Went through the "key trail" and turned left onto a possible alternative to having to descend through the alders as we usually do on this road. 10. Fought our way through heavy young alder growth. (It was heavier than the standard route).
mossy road surface on the "alders alternative" road before we encountered heavier alders
Paul reaches a clearing along the "alders alternative"
Sebastian emerges through the alders
11. We stopped the bikes and walked to check the route. We didn't walk all the way, although we went far into the overgrown road. Not a good route without a chainsaw. If you're a quad rider, please head up here with all your quader friends and stomp all over the alders. 12. After deciding that the trees were too thick we retraced our steps and followed the usual road through the alders towards Nanaimo River Road.
those alders will grab onto anything from front brake levers to cameras
13. Over the bridge and left towards Heart Lake. (A small trail to the left of the gate appears to have been provided by the logging company for small vehicles to pass through).
(top left to bottom right) A small trail left of gate provides access. It's difficult to see the road you need to follow when looking on Google Earth. Follow an immediate fork to the right after the gate. Both forks head to the lake although the right fork is more direct.
14. Uphill road to Heart Lake. It's a steep but fairly easy ride. There are many drainage ditches on this road that keep your speed in check.
climbing up towards the lake
15. Heart Lake at near 900m. Beautiful lake with a depressing "grapple-yarded" mess of logs and stumps on the far shore. What a terrible mess these people have made of one of our beautiful lake areas! :( Surely there are other spots you could have logged.
approaching the lake
290° stitched panoramic from the western shore of Heart Lake
good fishing cliffs on western shore
There are a number of good fishing spots on the road side of the lake. Some spots are off of low cliffs while others can be found nearer to the water level. We fished for a little over an hour today, (I think), and we saw very little action. Eventually we walked out with three fish between us. We saw a bear on the far side, which helped to make things more interesting. (Unfortunately, the bear was looking for trees and had less luck than us).
One of us took a spill on the way out. No large injuries luckily... Just an improved healthy respect for downhill logging roads with ditches. ;) Lesson learned!
It was a terrific ride and it appears that we all really enjoyed it except for the spill.
FINALLY, we did it! We managed to punch through to Moriarty Lake and Nanaimo River Road from the north. We tried this a few weeks ago when there was still snow up in the nose bleed region, (1015m). This time, the ridge we were climbing to the east of Mount Moriarty was clear all the way, (sweltering hot actually), and we were able to ride right over the top at 1090m (3576ft).
Here's the route in brief:
1. Started at Doumont Rd. entrance to logging roads
2. Turned right at the intersection NW of Boomerang Lk. onto Branch 142
3. Left onto 155 main
4. Turned left off of 155 towards mountain ridge NE of Moriarty Mountain onto 155N
5. Passed "snow" waypoint
6. Turned right onto key trail linking the northern logging roads to the southern roads (thanks Google E). There's a nasty downhill section full of young alders shortly after this location.
7. Right turn to Moriarty Lake
8. Lunch at the lake shore
9. Descent towards Nanaimo River Rd. on Branch G
10. Nearly went to 4th Lake... oops. (I've been staring at this route for too long).
11. NO GUARD at the gate on Nanaimo River Rd. Their schedule is extremely odd!
12. Turned left to follow the lower Blackjack Ridge route back to Doumont
13. Doumont Rd.
Plenty of dust out there today. The logging trucks were working and we had a few of them blast past us doing 9 869 862 km/h, leaving us confused and dazed in a cloud of thick dust. The bikes were kicking up plenty too, measurable by the layers of dirt up my sinuses.
The ride up the ridge, (a left off of 155 Main), was noticeably different from the last time we came this way: The dryer weather and some wear from quads and bikes have loosened dirt and rocks making the road surface quite a bit looser than we both remembered it. It was pretty easy going, only the wheel had a tendency to spin out more times than last. It's a great climb up there... I love how Moriarty Mountain opens up on your right as you get higher. The weather was so good today; it would have been a good day to bring my decent camera. Hindsight is 20/20... I was stuck with only my GPS pics again.
We reached the end of the road as planned and explored the "brownish key trail" we have both been spying on Google Earth, (item 6 above). Part of me thought this was going to be a complete waste of time and I thought we were in for a line of dead branches and stumps that only appeared to be a trail from satellite. I was delightfully surprised!
A big log marks the entrance on the right, which starts about 120 yds
before the end of the road. This short joiner trail is about 100 yds
long.
It was a good quad/bike trail and had obviously been carved into place by riders who were doing exactly what we were doing; looking for a route to the lakes and Nanaimo River Road. i.e. Getting access to the Nanaimo Lakes area even when the logging gates are closed. (Of course, this is completely legitimate, otherwise there would be signs posted to prevent it).
We made it through with little trouble. Occasional ditches have been strategically placed to make access more difficult than a straight trail, but these ditches are more of a mild nuisance than a trail stopper. We continued downward through a series of these ditches, perhaps four or five.
After descending a fair way we reached a "T." From here you can turn right to Moriarty or left to Nanaimo River Road and Fourth Lake. Time was an issue today and we decided on saving the " check Fourth Lake gate" ride for another time. (Note, Aug 31/12: We've discovered there is no gate. Hahaha). We began to climb once more and than started to descend towards Moriarty Lake. There are terrific views of Moriarty Lake and a couple of other no-name lakes as you crest the round road leading to the lake. We stopped at a large "tank trap" at the end of the road and decided to walk the remaining 170yd four iron shot to the lake. Ahhhh, lunchtime at the lake.
Moriarty's Lake Shore
We rode the circle road once again and arrived back at the "T" intersection. Continuing straight we rode a steady and quite lengthy descent down to Nanaimo River Road. From here we continued along the less-than-exciting N. R. Rd. back towards more familiar logging roads and zipped straight through the unguarded open gate. This annoys me! They stopped us a week ago when we attempted to ride through here and turned us back with fully loaded bikes, forcing us to ride the #1 highway down to Cowichan Lake. Today, they decide that it's okay to leave the open gate unattended. Who's writing their rule book?
A quick left turn took us back onto more familiar roads. We rode the lower Blackjack Ridge road back past Boomerang Lake and followed the tank traps back to Doumont.
What an outstanding ride today! Finally, we conquered Moriarty Lake and we found a way through to Nanaimo River Road and beyond. :) It might be a bit of a struggle going the other way, although it looks quite do-able. We'll see.
Quad riders: We need you guys to ride between location 6 and 7 to help stop those alders coming through the road! :)
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