Vancouver island for 3-4 Days?

[XXX-er]

or from whistler the back way up to Williams lake or up to Kamloops A pretty seriuos shop guy/ mechanic in kamy tells me every weekend he rides something has never seen before the neighbors Dad (64) tells me the island is a great place to meet wimmen on the bike trails and thats where he was headed

[bennymac]

I've ridden a bunch in the Whistler valley as well as Squamish and Pemberton, and I'll be back up there in early June to run my business trips (where we ride most all of the legit blacks and double blacks)... which is why I want to explore some new stuff. Edit to add: looks like we might head out to Vancouver Island after all. Arrive in the morning of the first day, ride something around Nanaimo that afternoon. Then spend a couple of days riding around Cumberland.

Not sure if anyone's out on the island, but if you are and want to show us around for a day (Nanaimo or Cumberland), dinner and beers are on us. Dates will be April 28 - May 1.

If you’re into black and double blacks then yeah not going to the Sechelt section of the Sunshine Coast is the right call. Coast Gravity would occupy you for a day and then you’d be struggling to fill the rest of your days or you’d have to move up to Powell River to hit Mahoney zone and that would only fill a day. And then it’s 3/4 of a day spent traveling back from Powell River to Squamish. It’s significantly easier and faster to get from Cumberland to Squamish than it is from Powell River to Squamish.

When in Cumberland you’ll want to ride at some point:

Chunder (access this from Trent River FSR)

Mumbo Jumbo - Lost Wood - Blockhead - Numbskulls - Gravity

Blueprint - New Vanilla (then all the vanilla trails in a row) - Trestle - Crafty Butcher trails - 2 Flats - Bonestorm

Bear Buns - Off Broadway - Found Link - Orange Peels

all of these can be accessed by going up the climbing trail

To ride in the Forbidden Plateau area you’d want to ask a local to guide you or at least talk you through the maze of trails there. Having two vehicles to do a shuttle is very helpful here.

The pizza place, brew pub, burrito shop, and ice cream joint are all legit places to eat in Cumberland. Make sure you stay somewhere within walking distance to the Main Street. Laneway coffee is also on the Main Street and is great. A lot of places are closed on Mondays though.

[D(C)]

I was going to say, Fraser Valley has enough to keep you busy for 2-3 days and is a lot easier to get to. I would check out:
- Vedder
- Chilliwack Community Forest - do the terrible hike a bike to Magic or Big Blue for a Kootenays-like dirt surf
- Sumas
- Ledgeview for some jumps
- Bear
- There's a new long descent trail opening in Hope this summer

[evdog]

If you stick between Nanaimo and Cumberland the Island is not a lot of driving. It's the ferry that's a hassle, but not bad if you get reservations.

I've only ridden Nanaimo a bit. But do want to his this trail next time, looks super cool

Creeper on Trailforks
https://www.trailforks.com/trails/creeper-137340/

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[evdog]

And yeah, the Fraser Valley is also not a bad option. Hit the Woodlot if you like jumps and woodwork.

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[D(C)]

Creeper is a cool trail but definitely more tech XC.

[jtran10]

spent a month on the island in 2023. The most memorable riding was Cumberland (amazing mtb destination for the full town/trails experience) and Mt. Tzou. If you spend a few nights in Cumberland, then a few nights in Duncan you can easily cover this stuff. There's 3 networks near Duncan that are apparently all good, we didn't ride them all. Trails near Vic aren't "destination worthy" IMO but do have some amazing, long slab riding that was above my level. These are Mt. Work/The dump trails. Sooke was also a cool destination with some long tech descents after a road climb. Great views too. Could ferry into Nanimo, then head south and head back to mainland BC or US via Victoria or Sidney depending on if you're going to Van or Washington. Agreed, book your ferry. We were glad we did. Ferry ride around sunset if it's clear is beautiful.

[smmokan]

Doing a day in Nanaimo (4/28) and the following two days around Cumberland, if anyone is out there and wants to meet up. I'll also be in Squamish for the four days before that if anyone's around and wants to ride!

[evdog]

I just got back from 10 days in Comox Valley (non riding trip). Trees are blooming. Looks like there could still be some snow higher up but otherwise you should have great conditions.

[smmokan]

Post-trip update, FWIW. We planned to ride two days in Cumberland and one in Nanaimo, but with some weather and the ferry schedules, we ended up riding two and a half days in Cumberland and none in Nanaimo. I'd like to hit Nanaimo (with a local) next time I'm out there. A couple thoughts on Cumberland: the Forbidden Plateau seemed like it has potential, but it also seems like it's been destroyed by logging. We found a few fun trails, but they were dry and loose and beat to shit in general.The Cumberland trails were fun, but certainly a notch below the North Shore or Sea to Sky stuff. We liked all the black and double black tech trails, which you can mostly fit into a big day of riding. We rode a couple of the blue flow trails and they were mostly underwhelming, but admittedly none of us prefer that style of riding. The town of Cumberland is super cool with the trails starting from downtown, so it made a lunch stop and post-ride beers very easy.