Rob and I are two peas in a very peculiar pod. These rides Rob and I have been doing where we try to find the sneakiest, least likely routes up mountains have “inspired” me to create Bike Portage Club because despite failing spectacularly on a consistent basis as rideable, they’re still really rewarding days out with a bicycle.
In terms of failing, no other ride we’ve done has failed as badly as this one. Having to hike our bikes from 400m to nearly 900m elevation was not unexpected. What was brutal about this ride was we hiked down most of that elevation as well, and I feared for my safety more than once.
The temperature was mild for early February and had been for the past few weeks. However there had been some recent stormy weather and a lot of rainfall, so water levels were high and trees and branches have come down.
We worked our way to the first switchback on Cypress Bowl Rd via our rather optimized route, then headed to the West Cypress Creek trail.
West Cypress Creek trail ascends over 400m along the west bank of Cypress Creek. Just about every other trail is on the east bank, where the topology is significantly more hospitable.
Recent rains had done a number on the road. It was too steep to ride anyway, but it was damaged to the extent it no longer served as an access road for vehicles.
This went on for quite a while, but I’d set into a bit of a rhythm and found the elevation gain to melt away. Perhaps the ambiance of the fog along with the sound of the roaring river down to our right helped place me into a bit of a trance.
The grade eased as we neared the ski area, but the trail became especially wet. Reaching the chairlift, in early February, and there was no snow on the ground at all was eerie and scary.
The lack of snow at the chairlift may have lulled us into a false sense of security for the next stretch, where we travelled along what are typically the XC ski trails. While too patchy to ski, they were also too snowy to ride. Rob had skied them just a week prior I believe, but the mild temps and rainfall had washed away a lot of snow in a short period of time.
It was difficult to walk along, let alone ride.
I know these rider POV photos of slushy snow are getting repetitive, but that’s how we felt at the time as well – the snow would dissipate and we’d think we’re in the clear, only to be met with another patch of snow, over and over again.
The recent snowmelt left bare areas saturated with moisture. Once we were out of the XC ski zone, we descended a section of the Cabin road we were familiar with. It was especially wet today.
The next leg of our journey was to descend Old Brewis, an out-of-the-way hiking trail well to the east of the more popular trail network. Neither of us expected it to be this challenging.
Making matters worse, the first ravine crossing on Brewis involved a destroyed bridge so we had to clamour up along the remains of the bridge.
While the going was tough, the massive Hollyburn Fir rejuvenated our souls.
At the bottom of Brewis, we headed east along Skyline trail along the powerlines towards Lawson Creek. I honestly believed this is where things would get better, but they really did not.
When we reached the ravine that Lawson Creek was at the bottom of, we were sure we must have missed a turn. It was so steep, and such a long way down. Daylight was failing at this point and making it more difficult to see the trail, which fueled my anxiety about getting out of this challenging terrain as soon as possible.
We descended into the ravine knowing that we’ve thus committed to finding a way up the opposite bank. If hiking, this would have been a moderate scrambler – but getting the bikes up with us was a challenge.
Once on the other side of that last ravine, the trail became much more hospitable and placed us back on a normal, reliable trail with views of the city below. I was extremely relieved to know that we didn’t have any more unknowns ahead of us.
Better still, a buddy of ours was at the brewery at the bottom of the hill. We arrived at the busy brewery and parked our bikes in the brewhouse. It was jolting to go from a day of wilderness to such a busy environment. After the brewery we worked our way along the bike route to town, stopping for a cheeky drink on a pier along the way.
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