Another Look from Beautiful Blackjack Ridge

I went up Blackjack Ridge again today.  I've been wanting to tryout the longer trail that travels along the length of the ridge because it looks like the views would be pretty spectacular from up there.

Here's today's route:

Entered trails from Weigles Road entrance (left to right).  (Click to enlarge).

 

It was really bloody cold out there today.  I met snow near the top of the ridge and chickened out from completing the route as intended, stopping instead to take panoramic photos SW from the ridge.  My original plan had been to go beyond the longer purple line above by about 1.5km.  That would have taken me to the best viewpoint on the ridge.  I really want to check out the rest of the route when the snow melts, although I have a feeling it's going to be white for a while up there.

Snow!!  Pretty nasty in places too.  Perfect for slowing the riding down a tad.  There was just enough gravel here and there to avoid the ice patches.

As high as I got today.  (End of the purple line on route map).

  

SW facing, 180 Panoramic from the ridge (Magenta line on route)

 

Overlooking Blackjack Lake... Facing SW.  (Magenta trail on the route).

 

180 degree panoramic image (low res) made from a video I took.  (Magenta trail on the route).

Same trail

With all this snow around, I had to get a couple of shots of Round Lake frozen over, so I flew over in that direction before the sun got too low.

Round Lake frozen over.  Hard as rock... I bounced several fairly large rocks across it.

Terrific ride!

Saw two large 4x4 trucks coming through the tank traps on the way out.  Very impressive.  How they got those things through there is anyone's guess.

Oops, almost forgot the 3D anaglyph shots for the dorks with the red/cyan glasses!  Here's two:

Looking SW from Blackjack Ridge.  (Needs red/cyan 3D glasses).

Looking SW from Blackjack Ridge.  (Needs red/cyan 3D glasses).

Two Views from Blackjack Ridge

I took a ride by myself today and went exploring a couple of Blackjack Ridge spurs off the main Blackjack logging road.  Here's the route in from Weigles Road/tank traps:

The Big Picture

Zoomed In on the Route (Right to Left)

It was really boggy through the tank traps today.  Easy riding on the way in, but a bit nasty on the way out with rear wheel spins through the gumbo. 

I turned left onto this small trail off the main Blackjack route.  The early part of this trail gets quite steep, but soon settles down to a very comfortable climb on an excellent small rock chip and sand base.  I stopped to take pictures from both dead-end spurs.

Viewpoint One  (180 Degree Panorama)

Viewpoint Two  (180 Degree Panorama)

 The ride down is a perfect example of a ride where you DON'T WANT TO TOUCH THE FRONT BRAKE TOO HEAVILY:  Steep with deep sand in places.  There were plenty of ice chunks on the trails today, (real pink fingers weather), so on the way back I took a quick peep at Boomerang Lake to see if it was iced over.  It wasn't iced over, but it was well on its way.  I'll have to come and take a look at it around January.   

Half Frozen Boomerang Lake

 The new fishing dock that some kind soul put in place has almost floated away with the rise of water level in the lakes.

Cottle Lake had even more ice.  The rings are where people have tried breaking the ice with rocks.

Great ride...  Time for a wash!

Now for the 3D Anaglyph image for the dorky people with red/cyan glasses (view full size):

   

Tank Badge Idea for Paul

My riding friend has been looking into tank badges lately.  Being as he's an avid fan of "all things Welsh," I thought this might be a great place to start!  Here's a nice Welsh mock-up tank job for you Paul.

The New KLX250S: "Each Smear Under $5,000"

You have to love Japanese translations!  I just lucked upon a small article on the upcoming Kawasaki KLX250S for 2012.  Click the following link to learn how "...handlebars pull all together for a long, happy days on the road and sour." 

  Rooks reery good in red.

Itching to Try Blackjack Ridge Routes

Paul:  I'm checking out these trails up Blackjack Ridge:  "A" is a right turn at the Y where we last found the alternative to the Tank Traps.  It goes way up the ridge and it looks like a pile of fun.  "B" is a dead-end route up Blackjack Ridge that looks like it could be a great view point and a fairly easy steep ride.  Have you done either before?  I want to try these one nice day when the snow clears!

"B" is a 245m climb over 1.5km

"A" is a 589m gain over 8.26km

They look really good in 3D!  :)

red/cyan glasses needed

red/cyan glasses needed

Stupid snow!

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!!!

They're Not Roman Candles...

Man, that was an interesting ride!  I just went out for a quick ride to see if I could access the local logging roads using the Vipond Rd. entrance.  I was hoping to find an alternative route to the standard "tank traps" entrance which has become boggy and more difficult to get through these days.  I didn't find one up Vipond Rd. way.  The road terminates in a Y; the left gated entrance looks very private and well-groomed (not an option), and the right is an extremely well-blocked logging road gate.  I decided to ride up the boggy trail to the tank traps with a mind to turn around if the rain should start up.  Rain be damned... it hailed, and the wind picked up to the point that it was clearly time to return home.  This is where the ride got really interesting.

I returned along Biggs Rd through an instant and quite nasty wind storm that had just started up.  I could see smoke directly ahead of me and a mixture of redish and green colours rising off the road.  "Bloody kids," I thought, "they're lighting roman candles on the road ahead."  (We're still finding the remnants of Halloween fireworks around our house even though Halloween is supposedly done).  As I rode closer I discovered it was in fact a very large tree that had just come down seconds before.  It had crossed and completely blocked the road, bringing several substantial power lines down with it.  A large fire started up around the coloured flashes and a distinct electrical fire smell filled the air.  My first thought was "Ooooh, that will look good on my blog," but I considered the insulative properties of my tires and I wondered if my shoes shared the same poor conductive properties on the wet road.  I turned the bike around and viewed the fire from a safer distance, putting my feet on the ground this time.  I didn't take a photo.  :(  It was a much safer idea to just get the hell out of there and report it).

I passed a fire truck closer to home.  They had blocked Mostar Road to clean off branch debris that had landed in the area.  I stopped and reported the fire and downed lines to them.  Finally got home to a power outage.  Vicki told me the instant wind storm had hit at home too.  Power just came back on a few minutes ago.  Bike's still out... Better go put it away now that I can open the garage door.

All the Routes So Far

With all of this wet weather it looks like a good time to collect an inventory of the local trails I've ridden to date.   Here's the collection, minus a few little spur trails here and there that didn't get recorded:

 
Click to enlarge.

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