There is a popular trail along the west side of Mosquito Creek that starts just off the busy Marine Dr in North Vancouver and heads north to Montroyal Ave. Beyond that it does technically keep going to the powerlines, but it quickly devolves from wide dog-walk friendly path to technical hiking trail, complete with climbing ropes in one section due to the grade and exposure.
Even more curiously there appeared to be some sort of trail on the other side of the creek at this point that doesn’t show up on most maps, including Trailforks.
We had to go see.
I had recently outfitted my Bombadil with drop bars and this seemed like the right kind of ride to really test that out. We traveled up McKay creek to start, and then jogged over to Mosquito Creek via some trails just south of the highway. These trails had what I would consider to be the worst possible surface: logs. Keeps you out of the muck, but unrideable and nearly unwalkable.
Thankfully that didn’t last long, and we pushed up a connector trail to the highway where we were met with police cruisers with their lights on. They had someone pulled over; they hadn’t come for us.
The traverse was short but it was also steep! This was pushing the limits of my comfort zone on a bike with drop bars and no dropper post.
The unknown trail, the one we came for, started behind a small fire station. It was immediately beautiful but also immediately challenging.
This is the kind of trail that exists only because enough school-age kids live in the area and play in the woods.
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The final push to the powerlines was the worst part. The trail was very deeply eroded and loose. Was it a trail? It might have just been a waterway during storms. I think it was a trail at one time, at least.
From there, things were a lot simpler. We were done climbing. We traversed the powerlines for a bit. According to the map and my prior experience, the powerline trail doesn’t go all the way to Braemar Rd. But does it? We pressed on and found it sort of does – not something I’d necessarily do again, but we got there.
We then noodled our way down through North Vancouver, jogging over to every green space we could. It was a trip to come across an unexpected horse pasture near Princess Park. From there we passed through Hunter Park, Hastings Creek, Kirkstone, and Loutet. Time consuming and unnecessary, it was a wonderful way to get back to my neighbourhood.
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