I have a number of local higher elevation rides (~1,000m+) planned this summer now that the snows are mostly all gone, so I need some seasoning. I figured I'd start near home by heading up to Mt Washington (our local ski hill) via a little known back route to the north. I'd found one route up last year (see Courtenay NW), but figured there had to be more. I took Duncan Bay Main NW, past Wolf Lake, where I stopped for a lakeside coffee (above pic). Then past Regan Lake to the south banks of the upper Oyster River. This year I planned to follow Rossiter Main along the south of the Oyster River, then Piggott Creek, before branching off to climb up behind Mt Washington. I've also wanted to reac
There's a major inland hinterlands south of Courtenay, stretching down to Horne Lake, between the well travelled east coast, and the north/south oriented Beaufort Range, getting high up into the mid Island. There's no communities, campgrounds or popular lakes to attract people. Not surprisingly, the logging industry has been active, and the backroads network is mostly oriented to haul logs down to the coast. A number of rivers and creeks - Trent, Tsable, Wilfred & Rosewall to name a few - make heading south through this hinterlands a challenge. This pic is a little south of the upper Tsable River, the largest river in this hinterlands, with (thankfully!) a backroads bridge ~4 kms up from the
