walking

Saturday morning I drove 60km to Duncan, BC to cycle 14km

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The local news reported a 40-metre section of the Cowichan Valley Trail between Agira Road and Sherman Road in Duncan was damaged during heavy rains in November 2021.

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Funding from the provincial program for repairs up to $848,575 was confirmed last July for both the trail and the culvert

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Being very familiar with this section of trail — which goes 28km to Lake Cowichan — I wanted to see for myself.

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After surveying the situation (pun intended) I cycled the 7km up to the Chinese Cemetery (another familiar spot)

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I was back home in Victoria BC before noon.

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Labels: cvrd, duncan, izip

Thursday we drove to Saltair, BC, on Vancouver Island to view the waterfall in Stocking Creek Park.

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The trail is well maintained and the weather was beautiful at a balmy 13°C and no rain.

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The downside was the bright sunshine caused some mixed lighting issues for photographers but that was of little consequence on such a wonderful outing. On the way home to Victoria, we stopped in at Bonsall Creek Trestle (again) then had lunch at the Brass Bell Pub (again) in Crofton.

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Johnston Rd Trail 30-sec video  

Labels: cvrd, walked

Kinsol Trestle Reopens Thursday, July 28, 2011
Kinsol Trestle: A Treasure Saved -- Times Colonist

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It has come together piece by piece, nail by nail, dollar by dollar. It has been a tough fight, but worth it — for today, the Kinsol Trestle is back in business. The trestle is a vital link in the Trans-Canada Trail system, the national network that encourages us to use people power to enjoy the great outdoors.

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But it is more than that. It is also a vital link with our history, to the days when steam-powered locomotives carried goods and people up and down Vancouver Island, making transportation possible before modern highways started grabbing the traffic away.

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80-seconds Kinsol Video

Labels: cvrd, kinsol, paterson, tct

Today I cycled 22km roundtrip from the Trans Canada Trail's Western Trailhead in Lake Cowichan, BC, to Skutz Falls and return. The 9.6km outbound leg was via the Trans Canada Trail sectioned which was formerly the Canadian National Railway (CNR) line tracking the southern side of the Cowichan River. The 8.5km Cowichan Valley Trail (CVT)inbound leg was on the former Canadian Pacific Railway (CNR) right-of-way (RoW) which is located on the north side of said river. This day, the 2.6km Mayo Road connector was chosen to get from one railtrail to the other.

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Oddly enough, both these railtrails are downhill (DH) when cycled in these directions. How so? Excellent question. The part left out here is the 177m (580ft.) gain from Skutz Falls, CNR railtrail Xing at Mayo Road up to the CVT. Yes, this cyclist walked part of it. The last time I cycled this loop it was done in the clockwise direction so the Mayo Road section was DH. "What goes up must come down". And so it is with cycling. In this direction, the TCT ride back to Lake Cowichan is 30m gain uphill. "Your call, captain", as we say in the airlines.

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Bernice and I were ostensibly in the Foot (as in foot-of-the-lake, the Township of Lake Cowichan) to attend the official opening of the all-new, rehabilitated former Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway (E&N) RoW which has been used as a trail for many years but never official designated as such. The Cowichan Valley Regional District (CVRD) was reluctant -- unable would be the correct word -- to open the trail as such for legal reasons. It was pretty rough in spots! It was posted with signs warning users they do so at their own risk and cable barricades were erected at every road xing along its route.

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Fortunately for us, those days are gone. We have this marvelous 26km route from Lake Cowichan, BC to Duncan open for our year-round enjoyment and convenience. Once a suitable connection is made between the CVT's eastern terminus at Sherman Road to the Duncan Commons Trail (currently under construction) one could presume locals and visitors alike will use the route to commute to the downtown core or, alternately, Duncan Commons Shopping Mall. Either way, this new trial is a winner.

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We had arranged to meet with T.W. Paterson to get copies of his newest Firgrove Publishing book: Rails to Trails Historical Map & Guide. Tom does nice work! Perhaps best known for his ghost town books which have been in print since the 1970s, TW Paterson is a familiar byline to thousands of readers who enjoy his newspaper and magazine articles, and his 26 books on popular British Columbia's history. For 14 years, TWP has written a twice-weekly historical column, Cowichan Chronicles, in Duncan's Cowichan Valley Citizen.

Cowichan Valley Trail Officially Opens // 6-minute Roundtrip Cycling VIDEO

Labels: cowichan, cvrd, cycled, mayo, tct

Today we walked with Tom Paterson's Friends of the Morden Mine tour with 14 others in his group. It was more standing (while listening to Tom) than actually walking. Having said that, T.W. Paterson is one of the wolrd's great story tellers and has the ability to engage and entertain his listeners. This marvelous gift he has developed over four decades is reminiscent of another wonder story teller I encountered as a boy -- Freeman King.

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The tour started at the Morden Colliery Historical Provincial Park parking lot beside the tipple at the end of Morden Road. Morden Road intersects with Vancouver Island's Hwy-1 at a traffic light south of Nanaimo, BC, located just north of Eagle Quest Golf Course. We drove our vehicles between the PCCM (Pacific Coast Coal Mines) Company's Morden Tipple and the other sites including: Fiddick's Junction; Canadian Collieries and Granby Colliery.

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Black Track Tour VIDEO

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We enjoyed beautiful sunny warm weather throughout the day. As we drove northbound through Duncan, BC, we took time to walk 600m along the Cowichan Valley Trail (CVT) from Holiday Lane eastbound to the new Bings Creek bridge crossing. This bridge was recently completed late last year and was sorely needed by users of this trail section. Thanks to the Cowichan Valley Regional District for accomplishing this task.

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GPS Coordinates Bings Creek Xing: N48°47.106', W123°44.554'
GPS Coordinates South Wellington Coal slack heap: 49° 5'19.41"N 123°53'42.76"W
Friends of the Morden Mine
GPS Coordinates Morden Tipple: 49° 5'40.82"N 123°52'21.94"W

Labels: cvrd, morden, paterson, railtrails, walked