The Seymour valley, also referred to as the LSCR (Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve), is a valley that I’ve spent quite a bit of time. There is nowhere else like it locally, providing a true wilderness experience just outside the city.
By mid-March, when this ride took place, winter is easing its grip on Vancouver. But while the temperatures were mild as some friends and I embarked on up the valley, we would discover that winter was still holding on between those mountains.
We climbed into the forest with moody but dry weather. My Bombadil had recently been re-assembled from being painted and I was enjoying the comfort of the 55mm Rene Herse knobbies. We climbed to the paved parkway, which we then followed for about 5km, midway to the lake.
From here, we took the Hydraulic Creek connector down to the midvalley lookout – a fairly short, but exciting trail to a beautiful lookout featured in a number of TV shows and movies.
The two left images above show the weather upon our arrival, versus when we packed our things about 15 minutes later. If there’s one thing the valley can be counted on, it’s unpredictable weather. As we made our way further north, we started to come across snow somewhat unexpectedly.
Located a short but steep climb from Spur 4, the gravel access road, Lost (Rolf) lake was looking especially moody this day. We enjoyed a cold beer while we ourselves were cold, before continuing on northward.
It wasn’t until we got onto Hatchery Trail at the north end of the watershed that we really experienced some proper snow! The snowmelt hadn’t quite reached sections of the trail, leaving surprisingly deep pockets of slushy white stuff.
At this point we’d already reached our furthest point and were southbound, so the snow added just the right amount of adventure without much worry. The unrideable bits were short, and soon enough we were back on the paved path southbound towards civilization. It was pretty cold and wet, and we all had some very cold extremities at one point or another, but a memorable and wonderful ride with good pals!
