"Power Line Trail" to Nanaimo River Road: Still Lookin'

We're still hacking away at finding a shorter route to Nanaimo River Rd. that bypasses yellow logging gates.  We have our current standard route, but it's close to being unusable as the winter and snow approaches.  In addition, the standard route is quickly becoming unusable as young alders are growing so rapidly that the trail will soon be overgrown.  (C'mon quads--we need you out there).

Paul and I decided to explore another possible route through from the "power lines trail" heading out towards the logging roads on Mt. DeCosmos.  Google Earth shows a faint line that could have been a connector:

  
 What a disappointment!  The blue trail turned out to be a good road, old and well covered with deep moss with many alder saplings.  Too bad that we didn't find the elusive trail...  It was looking pretty good for a while, but the line visible on Google Earth must have been an old creek bed or a road so old that it's long gone.

Old moss covered roads (the sky blue line above)

Same sky blue road at the beginning of the grown-in alders.  These became quite thick as we continued on this road.

We headed back to the main trail (orange) and revisited the route we had walked a few weeks ago that does lead to the DeCosmos roads, (shown here in red), but the rain has taken over and it's now a pretty steadily flowing creek over roots and well-sized boulders.  This isn't a good alternative route, at least, not in the winter.       

The flowing creek.  It's do-able, but not a good regular route through.

 
So here's the next try.  I don't know why we haven't tried this yet!  I had it earmarked as a possibility some time ago, (I think Paul might have too), but as yet we haven't given this one a try.  I'd like to give it a go next weekend if the rain cooperates:

We zipped out to Rhododendron Lake after we got skunked on our exploration.  Paul pulled in this really nice cutthroat trout.  Last cast, wouldn't you know it.

The catch piqued Paul's basic hunter instincts and the fish was devoured on the spot.

Parked just outside the "technical" trail to DeCosmos.  It's a fun ride to here.  Quads must be taking this route often to get through to DeCosmos:  We saw a few logs jammed into holes here and there.  Could you remove them once you're through so we don't break our necks on the bikes?  ;)  

Looking for the Old Beban Coal Mine

I took a short ride to find the old Beban Coal Mine today.  I entered at Doumont Trail, rode Blackjack Ridge's lower valley to Nanaimo River Road and made my way on blacktop up to South Forks and Nanaimo Lakes Road to find the entry gate shown at the top of the light blue line.

Dark blue - Logging Road that Runs the length of Mt Benson (SE, rear side).  Light Blue - Intended route entering from Nanaimo Lakes Road.  Pink - My GPS track 

The gate was very well blocked with large rocks and so I made my way SE, looking for a way in.  I eventually found a narrow gap between two rocks at 49.107337° -123.998888° and continued south to the mine site.

My entry point into the trails

The mine site - letters correspond to the photos below:

 

a.  I'm not sure what this is, although it looks like nothing more that a shelving unit, (feet on left side).  It's in very good condition and looks to be a little too new to be a mine site artifact, although there is little other reason for it to be there.    Probably Beban's personal Scotch whisky stash.  None left!  :(

b.  Threaded rods protruding from a building foundation

c.  Difficult to see here with the thick undergrowth all around.  This is a deep vertical shaft.  It's marked off with a scrawny bit of lumberman's tape

d.  Deep Shaft

e.  Same deep shaft.  Very loose ground and a very deep hole, so this is the best I can do I'm afraid.  :)

f.  This is the same shaft, but I backed up to see the marking tapes.

g.  Chunk o' anthracite coal.  Lots of this stuff kicking around

h.  Remnants of some old piece of equipment

i.  The obligatory junked car photo. 

j.  Tailings pile

 k.  (no photo)  Another shaft... filled.

It struck me after I had left the site that the original "Beban Mine" waypoint that I lifted from Wikipedia, (seen on the photo with all those yellow letters above), is likely the location of another shaft.  The Beban Mine was in the news during the sixties when a boy had ventured into the mine and was unable to get out.  He died in the mine.  This mine, as I understand it, went in off a slope, and I'm guessing that had I searched this Wikipedia waypoint I would have found that shaft.  GOOD... I have a reason to return on another ride!

**BE WARNED:  If you head into this area, keep your eyes fixed on the ground.  There are numerous vertical shafts and all are covered with thick undergrowth during the spring and summer.  It looks like logging crews have marked trees for cutting or leaving, but aside from their tape, little has been done to call attention to the shafts.  In addition, the ground is loose and crumbly near shaft edges.  Be careful!  ;)

Fourth Lake Dam

Wooohoo, there's a window appearing in the local weather.  It looks like a rain free day... perfect for a quick ride out to the Nanaimo Lakes area.  Nanaimo has a series of lakes that run west from the south end of the city.  The area is owned by a large logging company who open their gates on weekends for campers to travel the logging roads into campsites on the lakes.  I was heading for Fourth Lake today, the last of the Nanaimo Lakes, to try some fishing off the dam if possible.

The route (Click to enlarge)

I picked the route heading south behind Mount Benson to keep it interesting rather than heading through the city.  I entered the logging roads through Weigles Road and headed through the worsening gummy tank traps.  (I got my bike stuck in a pool of sludge going through there today).  I followed the route I had taken on an earlier ride with Paul, past Boomerang Lake and down to the locked gate that exits onto Nanaimo Lakes Road.  The work-around is to the right of the gate and leads through a series of hills and pools that have been pretty overrun by quads that like to churn up the mud.

The "work-around" to the right of Nanaimo Lakes Road gate

The gate "work-around"

After ten minutes of navigating on foot to check if parts were passable I emerged onto Nanaimo Lakes Road and made my way on real roads to South Forks Rd.  This road takes you directly to Nanaimo River Road, the stretch of road that leads to all of the lakes.

Some miles along you reach an opened gate.  There was a gate keeper there today, as there is on most weekends, and he took my name, address, phone number and licence number.  I was instructed to check back out before five-o-clock.

First Lake is just beyond the gate.  I could see trout swirling around near shore and I wish now that I'd taken the time to stop there to fish for a while.  I wanted to move on and try fishing at Fourth Lake and still get out by five so I went on.

Second Lake

The logging roads are in great shape all the way through the lakes area.  I wouldn't take a regular car through there, but it's quite manageable for a 4x4 truck or trail bike.  After a few turns, approximately 30 minutes after passing the gate guy, I reached a Y in the road and a sign pointing left to "Fourth Lake."  The lake is only a few minutes ahead after climbing a small hill.

Left for Fourth Lake.

I turned right at the lake and drove along the length of the dam itself.  You can't fish easily off the dam, but there are many spots visible along the shore nearby.  I rode off towards the end of the Fourth Lake campsite and found a good spot on the lake shore for fishing.

The far end of the dam

Looking along the dam towards the road.  That's my fishing spot on the shore near the yellow tree furthest to the right.

Taken from the dam looking SW

Cheesy self-timer shot off the dam wall.

Further round the lake... This is the campsite area.  I fished from this spot.  That's the dam on the left.

The dam

Looking SW down the lake

I fished for about forty minutes and got many hits but I only managed to pull one in, a tiny trout that I was determined to keep.

The monster of the lake

I followed part of the same route home, but this time I opted for a trip through the city because it started to rain.  Altogether it was a really good ride and one that I'll repeat again.  Next time I think I'll stop at First Lake to do some fishing though.

That was five hours of wicked entertainment, traveling 140Km through some fantastic terrain, and the whole thing cost me $5.80 in fuel.  Not bad value since I brought a fish home too.  ;)