Horne Lake is a popular cottage and recreation destination, ~7kms in from the east coast of central Vancouver Island. Last week I finally got around to a longstanding plan to spend some time looking into connecting backroads routes to/from the west (interior) end of the lake. I spent a few days following possible tracks, with some deadends, and ended up with a handful of routes SW to Port Alberni, and a new option from Fanny Bay to the NE. I had brilliant blue early summer skies, grand riding and some first rate camping (check out the pic below from Horne Lake Caves Regional Park). Horne Lake has an east - west orientation and is ~7kms long. Watersports are a big deal in season, though the w
I'd done a past ride north from Powell River to Lund and Okeover Arm Park. A few months ago, I heard there are logging tracks all the way to Sarah Point (see pic below) at the far north tip of the Malaspina Peninsula. Sarah Point is the northern trailhead of the 180 km Sunshine Coast Trail, that takes hikers all the way south to Saltery Bay. Once again, I started by riding north along the paved Sunshine Coast highway to Lund. I camped just south of Lund at the seaside Dinner Rock Rec Camp, run by the Tla'Amin First Nation. Beautiful spot (see photo following), but a beast of a climb back up to the highway to start the next day. North from Lund up to Sarah Point is only ~20 kms, so this is no
A few months past, I found a new map of Texada Island with some roads and bays along the NE coast I'd not seen before. I thought I'd best check it out. Distances are modest, but I was up for some sunny seaside camping, so planned for 4 days. The weather was glorious. The pic above is from Shehtekwahn Bay (see map below), known by most maps and locals as Pocahantas Bay. There's a number of camping areas around the bay, where Whisky Still Creek (there's a story, no doubt) flows into the sea. I was visited by sea lions through the day. I discovered that one reason I had not seen these roads before was that some had seen better days. There were some beastly hills and ornery stretches. But also s
