Don’s Adventure Ride #19 – Tugwell-Alligator Loop, Sooke, BC

Here is a fun B loop with a couple of B+ sections. Plus a little bit of road to make this a fun day trip dual sport adventure.

Distance:
About 60km long

Level:
Lots of easy “C” logging roads and lots of “B” roads with rubble, rocks, little logs. A couple of B+ sections, but they are short. Worse comes to worse you could walk your bike through them.

Time of Year:
This area should be free from snow from May to November

Access:
Go out past Sooke to Anderson Road. Turn up the road, keep your eyes peeled to the bushes on the left for an ATV track bypassing the gate. This route changes all the time so you’ll have to keep you eyes peeled.

GPS File:
Adventure Ride – Tugwell Alligator.gpx

Map:
(click on image to enlarge)

Here’s Cam deftly maneuvering his 640 down the rock steps and rubble from Tugwell Lake.

Written on October 11th, 2012 , Adventure Ride, dirt bike, Sooke, Uncategorized

Don’s Adventure Ride ‘n Hike #16 – Kludahk Trail – Sooke, BC

If you like to do a little riding and a little hiking, then the Kludahk trail is a good destination. Beautiful Alpine area, cabins, meadows, lakes. Visting each cabin makes a nice series of day trips.

Distance:
The furthest cabin, out and back would not be much more than 50km.

Level:
Most of the logging road is easy. There are some steep roads and waterbars to navigate here and there.

Time of Year:
Snow up in the Alpine can linger well into June and even July.

Access:
Head out past Sooke on highway 14. A half hour further you will be in Jordan River. Keep going past JR, up the hill, then a couple of km you will come to China Beach park. Right across the street from China Beach park is Jordan River Main (JR Main). Just head on up!

GPS File:
Adventure Ride n Hike – Kluhdahk Trail.gpx

Map:

Meadow Cabin

Tower Cabin

Written on July 10th, 2012 , Adventure Ride, Sooke

Don’s Adventure Ride #14 – Boyds/Mt Muir Hard Loop – Sooke BC

Here is a loop for the hardier crowd. Lots of very rough double track, five creek crossings, multiple ATV tracks. Best to do this on a smaller woods bike with good tires. The tough guys can take their 650s.

Distance:
Its about 60-70km round trip.

Level:
Lots of rough double track. Definite B sections. Going up past Tugwell to Ranger lake includes a bunch of rock steps. A few rough ATV tracks, five creek crossings, a couple of them harder than usual. A bike suitable for a hare scramble should be no problem. Real good riders on 650 DS bikes with good off road tires will be OK. (their names are Dave and Al)

Time of Year:
Mt Muir might be clear of snow as early as June. Best to check on the forums if going early or late in the season.

Access:
Head to Sooke, then drive on the 14 out past Sooke. After you pass down and up through Muir Creek, you’ll come to a flat stretch of road through a clearcut. That is blueberry flats. Part way down the road, keep your eye posted to the north, as there will be an ATV track into the area.

GPS File:
Adventure Ride Boyds Mt Muir Loop.gpx

Map:

An example of a washed out road with a bunch of rock steps. Try it in the rain with about 20PSI in your tires.

Muir Creek Crossing. Looks mellow in the picture, but thats about 18 feet deep! (ha ha).

Written on July 9th, 2012 , Adventure Ride, Sooke

Don’s Adventure Ride #3 – Hidden Alligator Lake – Sooke, BC

Here is a nice day tour up to a back country lake below Alligator creek. Since the lake has no name, I am calling it “Hidden Alligator Lake”. It’s all new/old logging road, with a few “B” sections, riding through a couple of creeks, and up a bumpy road – no single track or anything “A”. If you have a plated bike you can make a nice loop out of it along West Coast road. If you dont have plates, an out and back is fun too. Up Boyds Pit past the recent logging turns into an old road, with a little overgrowth and a couple of easy creek crossings (the southern one looks daunting, but look closely, its not). It then connects to the top of Forebay Road – East Main, which is an easy logging road. The road up to the lake is a little rocky in places and a little overgrown, but has nothing too challenging.

If your a little bored, take the “B” route at boyds, it still a road, but a little older and rockier with a more challenging creek crossing.

If you made a loop out of it, it might total 50-70km. Pretty little lake up top.

Access:
Head out past Sooke. Once you pass the Muir Creek crossing, head up the hill and get on to the flats, that’s blueberry flats. Look closely on the North side of the road and you will see an ATV track going into the woods. That’s the start up to Boyd’s Pit. If you have gone past the straight stretch, you have missed the entrance.

GPS File:
HiddenAlligatorLake.gpx

Map:

Written on June 8th, 2012 , Adventure Ride, dirt bike, Sooke

Boyd’s Pit / Blueberry Flats – Sooke Dirt Biking

Boyd’s Pit at Blueberry Flats is just past Sooke and is great for dirt biking. It is used for Hare scrambles and other races. Lots of great technical single track. The lower portion is pretty flat, the upper portion it gets harder and hillier.

To get there, drive on the 14 out past Sooke. After you pass down and up through Muir Creek, you’ll come to a flat stretch of road through a clearcut. That is blueberry flats. Part way down the road, keep your eye posted to the north, as there will be an ATV track into the area.

Here are a couple of maps of the area, and a GPS file. The tracks on the GPS files contain names which will give an idea of how tough the single track is. Some places it is GREAT (fast, tight, not much rock/root). Other places it is HARD (rocky, rooty, big mud holes and the like). Enjoy!

Maps

GPS Tracks

Boyds Pit GPX file

Misc

Great Video of the ‘Wall of Mud’

Written on April 12th, 2012 , dirt bike, Sooke, Trials

Don’s Adventure Ride #1 – Shawnigan – Port Renfrew Backroad Loop

Even though the old port renfrew road is completeley grown over, and the old bedspring bridge is long gone, there still is a route from Shawnigan to Port Renfrew. Basically up Fleet Main, and then down Lens Main (East). I made a loop out of it, travelling back along Jordan Ridge to Jordan River, then up JR East Main to the reservoirs. \The whole loop is under 200km.

NOTE: This route is no problem on a street legal bike with knobbies. Anything else, and you might have a bit of a problem (see below).

** UPDATE ** August 27, 2011 A couple of guys from DualSport BC went on the route, and when travelling down East Lens Main (after the blocked bridge), they found a bridge out at coordinates N48 36.367 W124 11.272. I have yet to verify it, so if you go down there, just be prepared to come up and go up to the Harris Creek Road (in other words, bring gas).

** UPDATE 2 ** June 18, 2012 The great guys from DualSport BC (thanks DieselDude and RedPillar) worked in a trail around the old bridge through the creek – they suggest that only the smaller dual sport bikes take the path.

Access:
Just start on the Renfrew road at Shawnigan lake.

Ride Time:
Looks like it took me just under eight hours, but I stopped to look at the Red Creek Fir. I also stopped at the Port Renfrew Marina for gas and a (very expensive) hamburger.

Difficulty:
Dual sport bike with knobbies. Although I tried to keep paved roads to a minimum, there still is a bunch. on West lens main a bridge is out, and even the adventurous would still have a problem. So you are forced to go down east lens. BUT on east lens, a bridge is blocked because it is unsafe. The is enough room for a motorcycle to go by. The bridge is fine – just ride fast. Also, getting from the reservoirs onto butler main requires riding through some slash. Its pretty well worn in, it just might require knobbies if wet.

ATV you can get part of the way there, but you have to travel on pavement after Lens Main and back to Jordan River. If you are in a truck, you’ll need to avoid lens main altogether and go up to the Harris creek road. If you want to get up past the reservoirs, it better be a short wheel base very high clearance truck with good knobbies.

Map:

GPS File:
Shawnigan-Port Renfrew-Jordan River.gpx

Pictures:

Written on August 6th, 2011 , Adventure Ride, dirt bike, KTM 450 EXCR, Port Renfrew, Shawnigan, Sooke Tags: Port Renfrew, Shawnigan

Don’s Adventure Ride #6 – Wye Lake Loop

Deep in the Sooke hills, up on the San Juan Ridge, exists a pretty little lake called Wye Lake. Here is a nice loop that you can ride or ATV from Shawnigan or Jordan River (east). You might even be able to do it in a short wheel base truck, although there are a couple of tough sections.

If you want to actually go to Wye Lake, be prepared to hike along the Kluhdahk trail for a couple of km. Nice lake, they have some canoes you can paddle around the lake.

Access:
From Shawnigan, you can either head out past Weeks lake along Kapour and return along the San Juan River, or vise versa.

From Jordan River, take the East Mainline up to the reservoirs, cut through the reservoirs to Butler main. Its locked and gated at Butler Main, but at the bottom of the access is an old road that cuts through slash and pops out onto Butler Main. You might be able to slide your bike under the date too.

Ride Time: 3-4 hrs from Jordan River

Difficulty:

Its mostly logging road. There are two sections that might prove a little difficult to beginners. The cut through from the reservoirs to Butler main bumps up through some slash. But its starting to get pretty worn in. It’d be a pain if its wet and muddy. You might be able to slide your bike under the gate though. The other part that is a bit challenging is the ridge road that goes up from the San Juan to the top of San Juan Ridge. Its marked in red on the map. When arriving at the bottom, there are three roads that split off. A nice one on the level, another nice one that goes down, and a nasty overgrown, rocky one that goes up the ridge. Take the nasty overgrown, rocky one. Its only a couple of km long, and then pops out onto loggin road again.

Map:

GPS File:

Wye Lake Loop.gpx

See Also:

Backroads map book is sorta useful, but old data.

CRD Atlas is very useful… http://viewer.crdatlas.ca/public#/Home

Written on August 2nd, 2011 , Adventure Ride, dirt bike, DR350, Hike, KTM 450 EXCR, Sooke

Made it to Tugwell Lake

Well we made it to Tugwell Lake. At least the turn off anyways. At the turn off the old road bed to the lake is now a creek bed and a bit too rocky for my abilities. So we hiked up. Nice lake.

We ventured further on, I wanted to see if we could hit butler main and then see Leech Falls. No luck though. The road was barricaded with large rocks at Golledge Ck, just before Butler Main. Although we saw tracks from the mysterious trials rider (Ryan?), it was just a but too much for us.

Here are some fun vids of Hoss going through Tugwell creek and another creek.

And Hoss crossing another creek near the “speed bump”

Written on May 14th, 2011 , dirt bike, Sooke

Trapp Mtn – Bike and Hike

Trapp Mtn, is just another unexciting bump located in the Sooke hills. However, it was a good opportunity to test out riding the dirt bike for the approach then putting on the runners for a hike. (this is supposedly what I bought the bike for in the first place!).

Access: I gained access to the logging roads from the gate off Clarke Road, off Otter point place. The gate was unlocked. The ATV routes around the gate have been freshly ditched. You can slide your bike under the gate though. Glad I went on a Sunday, there was active logging in a number of areas along the way.

Ride Time: about 4hrs round trip from the gate at Clarke Rd. 45 mins on the Dirt Bike to get to the trail head; couple hours to go up and down the mountain.

Difficulty: Easy to moderate dirt bike ride – Logging road approach, and then a bunch of bumping around on an old rocky forest service road. Easy hike up an overgrown old road to the col, then up a trail – a little bit of hands on. No cliffs or anything like that.

Now if you are a good trials rider, you will probably find the overgrown road up to the trail a snap. If you are a real good trials rider you mike the challenge of the actual hiking trail to the summit. I am neither, so I just hiked those parts.

Map:

GPS File: Trapp Mtn.gpx

The reclusive 4 stroke animal hidden in the woods. (click on pictures to view larger)

The trail that leads down to Camp Barnard. Nice bridge, I wouldn’t want to try to get the bike across that.

The ho-hum summit of Trapp Mtn.

Written on May 8th, 2011 , dirt bike, Hike, Sooke

Don’s Adventure Ride #12 – Tugwell Lake Dirt Bike – Sooke, B.C.

Mar 28, 2011

After a few attempts, finally found access to the Tugwell mainline, via an ATV trail off Anderson Road. Didn’t quite make it up to the lake, as there was too much snow, but a fun ride anyways.

Map: