A few days ago I was habitually checking vacant lot sales on realtor dot com, not because I’m in the market but because I just enjoy daydreaming about what I’d do with them. I saw two 90x120ft lots on the east side of Seymour, just north of Indian River Dr – in the middle of the bush. They are trail-access and there’s no chance that the city would allow structures to be built (I’m guessing) but oddly they are zoned for it. They were only $88,000 each, which, given that you can’t really do much with it is perhaps still a lot, but compared to the literal millions that a liveable home costs, it still came as a surprise.
While I wasn’t interested in actually purchasing the plots, I did want to check them out, which made for a perfect mission for the weekend to get me out on the bike with purpose. It was about 15 km away from my home and the final 700m was hiking trail. I took the Evasion because there were also some easier MTB trails along the way I could take advantage of – and staying off the pavement had extra appeal today, as there was risk of black ice.
Indian River Drive is a unique road around here – relatively newly paved, it passed through miles of intact forest to reach a small community of houses further up the inlet from Deep Cove. It’s popular with roadies because at its end, it drops down about 150m to sea level with brutally steep switchbacks, making for an exciting descent and challenging climb.
The photo below was actually earlier in the ride, part of a network of trails that loosely paralleled the main road to Seymour. Certainly a lot slower and higher effort than just taking the road, which does have a bike lane, but also a whole lot more pleasant. These trails are always remarkably quiet, too – I rarely see anyone else on them.
The hiking trail passed under the power lines, where a thick layer of frost had not been touched by the sun. The Evasion’s 2.8″ tires were a perfect match for this chunky wide trail – after the powerlines, the trail narrowed and became unrideable, but thankfully it wasn’t much further to go.
Below is the property, roughly – there were no markers that I could see. The trail actually passes through the upper lot, and the lower lot is down the rather steep hill towards the power lines. It was a beautiful bit of forest, covered in ferns and salal, with a substantial creek just steps away. The creek had some nice pooling areas that, if not dried up, would be wonderful to sit in during summer.
On the way back out I popped into a trail I noticed off the side of the road to get a photo, but discovered that there was actually a trail that ran parallel the road. This area is not legal to trail-build, but that hasn’t stopped people clearly. I’m thankful for it!
With some aid from trailforks, I managed to stay in the woods for much of the traverse back towards the city. It included short sections of hike-a-bike, but mostly I was on technical (but not too difficult) XC type trails. The Evasion is quite well-suited to these trails – I do find these ergonomic levers to be a bit difficult to hold onto when trying to both grip them sufficiently for the rough stuff and also operate the brakes, so that’s a limitation, and the wheelbase is short enough that you do have to be mindful going over roots and rocks as soon as it gets a little bit steep – I haven’t gone OTB on this bike yet but I could see it happening if I’m not careful.
Once back in “civilization” I picked up a six-pack and had one by the river while the sun was still able to warm me.
After that, it was over the bridge and home – the bridge is about 1km in length, and from there it’s about 3.5 km to my door. The total ride was 33 km and 630m elevation, but the stats are neither important nor representative when it comes to a ride like this.
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