Part 3 of Holiday Challenge: Bombadil

Day one was the Raleigh Twenty, day two was the Hillborne. Day three, Dec 27 2024, was also Friday: the day of Camp Coffee Club’s morning meeting. This week was at the OG location, Waterfront Park in North Van. I show up quite irregularly on account of the early hour, but I got myself out before sunrise and on site shortly after 8am.

After drinking my coffee and seeing the others off, Morgan, Nathan and I headed for a Seymour valley loop. We grabbed some breakfast at A&W then headed up the path behind Capilano University which includes, as we knew, a long set of stairs near the end.

We stayed off the road as much as possible by taking Diamond trail to Baden Powell off Lillooet Rd. We stopped along the top of a ridge to bask in the forest glow.

We then shed a bunch of elevation we just worked hard for by descending Baden Powell to Riverside Dr – an absolutely glorious stretch of trail that ends with a treacherously steep staircase. We were rewarded with a bit of fog against the sun for perfect light.

We headed up Fishermans, taking in the perfect weather. The sunshine lit up all the lichen hanging from the lower limbs of the tree canopy, which gave a green hue to the air.

My Bombadil was purpose-built for this valley and it continues to deliver four years later.

We looped around the marsh at midvalley, which is an entirely unnecessary yet worthwhile little trail. The bridge over the marsh’s outflow drain was removed a while back and nothing has been put in its place to date – and the water level was such that it was a bold jump over deep water to cross. I placed the Bombadil into the water to help balance me, and I didn’t expect to submerge the bike well past the SON hub and bottom bracket. Whoops!

We pedalled up Spur 4, descending over Bear Island, and onto Hatchery Trail. I was excited to take Morgan and Nathan to my favourite tree on the Rainbow Creek loop.

We spent a little bit of time among these giants before continuing on. This spot has become my favourite of late and I’m glad I’ve been able to get out here so regularly, considering it’s 25km from home and half of that is on trail, out of cell service.

The day ended up being 66km and nearly 1000m of elevation. While it’s relatively challenging, these LSCR loops really rejuvenate my soul.

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