Striking Gold & A Needle In a Siouxsie's TwinDuro

Picking up Ryan at the motocross track after watching youngsters fly around like pro's, Andy I and felt sheepishly out of place, slow, and slightly embarrassed to be on tame dual sports among all that brightly coloured, finely fettled racing machinery.  It's humbling to watch kids use racing bikes as tools to fly, skid and skim around a dirt track like they were born to it, knowing that as far as  your off road riding skills have come, you'll never be quite THAT comfortable on a bike.  Wow.

It didn't stop us pretending for twenty minutes or so, though, on our way to the Deadhorse Creek gold mine to be better than we are.  We flew like maniacs for a few miles kicking up dust and clunking our way from Dumount Road (east side of map) and along the hydro trail until we met joined with the 155 main and headed up the key trail to the promised land...   

 Above: the whole trip was about 140 km. Start in the northeast corner and proceed counter clockwise...  

 

After heading up the key trail and crossing into the familiar route down the other side and through the alders, we turned left and headed up towards Panther (Healy Lake).  GE shows a solid line representing a clear trail (quite a large logging road actually) all the way to the Gold Mine from here.  However, as is often the case with GE, it doesn't show washed out bridges and creek beds which you need a trials bike (or a svelte KTM 450) to cross. 

 

 Above: you can see the trail past Healy Lake that we took, thinking that this would take us straight to the Gold Mine.  Alas a creek bed sans bridge was more than a match for our confidence and we turned around.

  

 The bikes at Healy Lake: Fisheries notices remind fishers that the catch limit for trout is "0", with barbless hooks and fly fishing only.  Catch and Release...

 

 

Tracking back from the Healy Lake dummy trail, we headed back on the familiar key trail down towards Nanaimo River Road and joined it just east of Third Lake.  Finally, 2.5 hours or so into the ride, we found an alternative route to the mine at the west end of Second Lake.  Turning up this road, it was my turn to eat dust, and allowed the others to ride on ahead.   

 

After traversing a trail which became fairly green and disused looking, among the trees, we came to a sharp descent, an abandoned camp-site complete with fire pit and obligatory beer can - and parked our bikes.  A short climb down a steep-cliffed riverbank led us down to Deadhorse Creek (blue line above).

 

It was as we parked the bikes that Andy noticed that I had an almost completely flat rear tire...  I had become aware that for the past while, that either the bike was harder to ride than I remembered, or that I was getting tired.  Looking at the tire, it was evident I had been riding this way for a while, and 30-40 minutes back I remembered that I had heard a loud "bang" behind me, which I had erroneously put  down to a bungee cord flying off the bike, as sometimes happens if they are slackened or hit by a branch.  What is sobering, is that at one point we were doing 80 or 90 km along the dirt of River Road after that.

 

Still, I figured I had got it this far, and that if I was careful I could ride out easily.  So on to the mine!  The property itself is privately owned by a European company, and it hasn't been mined for some time.  The details of it's yield can be found here...

 

Above: the mine property with the Straight of Georgia in the background.  The mine entrance itself is at 1923 feet.

 

Seeing the mine for the first time is an amazing sight.  Firstly, it is located behind and beside a waterfall in a deep creek canyon.  You need to use the yellow nylon rope to descend the sides...

 

 

Ryan surveys the prospect (excuse the pun) of lowering himself into the abyss...

 

 Above: The lower canyon; Below: the impressive Deadhorse Creek Mine entrance...dark...deep...bears, gas, gold??

The entrance is amazing and just beckons...

With my tiny micro-light and our pampers, we entered...



 Above: as much light as I could shine in - the shaft splits into two tunnels - the left one heading towards a shaft which goes up vertically 5m through rock.  Impressive.  There are some old timbers holding various parts of this area up.  They do bear load...worrying. But we whispered and walked gingerly around, except for one of my cohorts (who shall remain unnamed) who farted and nearly tripped, stumbling precariously towards the beam.  There was gas down there after all!

Above: Ryan standing outside the entrance, waiting for our Welsh troglodyte to fetch the coffee and the light.

Above: looking vertically up the shaft.  Water drips everywhere in the mine, and the flooring is sedimentary and puddled.  The shafts themselves look sturdy and well constructed.  Surprising.  There was some evidence of wire...explosives?

Above: the obligatory beer can!  It was comforting to know that someone else had been as reckless as us and been in here within the last decade or so...  I didn't check for any dregs... 

 Above: Ryan exiting the mine, taken from half way in, at the junction between two shafts. 

Above: The culprit.  Now for the delusional conspiracy theory...I've never picked up a puncture or a nail before...I'm not sure where I picked up the nail, but if I were guarding a gold mine, I suppose nails could be an effective deterrent...  Rubbish.

I've never fancied changing a tyre is necessary if you can ride the bike out carefully.  Why risk spending hours with substandard tools and potential injuries trying to break the beed, wrestle a recalcintrant tyre off a rim and insert a new inner tube (which you have to carry with all the other tools), only to find that you can still ride the bike and change the tire out of the rain?

The bike was perfectly rideable at reasonable speeds 35-40kmh on the dirt, and 45 - 50 on the black top, although it was slow and arduous.  I can report it is entirely doable though, and even breaks the bead for you: a two in one deal!  I suppose the can of slime I have at home would have been an idea, but perhaps I wouldn't have known I had a puncture and continued to ride on it until...?  The most stressful part of the 40km ride was avoiding damage to my rim by avoiding large rocks etc.  Still, alls well that ends well...  All in all, a great day.  Thanks to Andy for the idea, and Ryan for the truck!

 

It'll be D606 rear for me now.  The TKC 80 rear, while being great on the street and adequate in the dry dirt (not so hot in mud), has lasted a mere two months and a paltry 1500km: it wears like butter.  It was due for replacement anyway...but the nail has hastened it's demise...

 

Click here for the EVERYTRAIL Trip View



Gold, Decosmos and a Black Bear Bluff?

Andy and I set out last Saturday to get to an old disused gold mine.  In some ways we got more than we bargained for...  Briefly here is the route:

We connected with the hydro lines and headed along until we got to the bridge where you cut off for Rhodo lake.  At that point we headed left instead of right and up for a while before taking another left turn to the south east.  Eventually we got to place where we thought we might be able to cross to the Mt. Decosmos Road.  However, even though the trail was fairly short (100m) it was fairly gnarly, being boulder strewn creek bed, root infested and fairly steep.  We quipped the shyte fantasique that we could do it, but, really, it would have been a struggle. Quads look like they may have made it up.  Below is a detail image.  The yellow pin indicates where we got the bikes to.  From there we walked the hundred metres of gnarly trail, emerging onto a veritable "four lane highway" of a logging road.  We walked some more, but never found a way down to Deadhorse Creek (blue line) and the mine.  Using the Key trail and getting to the the big logging road is probably the next plan. 

 Below are some pictures of the gnarly link trail...

The most exciting bit of the whole trip for me was a bear encounter.  While, at the time, it left me both exhilarated and knee-shakingly bemused, I have had  a few days to think it through and research it.  Briefly then this is what happened. 

I was leading Andy on our bikes onto the hydro power line trail.  I have had two bear sightings on this trail before.  One recent sighting was a black bear that I came across eating berries on the south side of the trail.  He, or she, took partial cover and waited for me to pass, but I fumbled for my camera and by the time I got it switched on, the bear had given up and walked off.  I've always seen the bears prior to them reacting to me.  However, last Saturday was different.  Andy had dropped back 50 m or so to avoid my dust, and as I buzzed along I saw a challenging section of trail ahead and gunned it, relishing the thought of testing out my new forks and launching up another rise.  Doing about 30 - 40 kmh, as I crested the rise, something caught my peripheral vision on my right (north) under the power lines.  If you look at the G.E. image above, you will notice the lines are cleared of any trees for obvious reasons; consequently, blue-berry bushes and various other scrub is growing there - and I assume it's a prime location for bears to feast. 

 

Well on this day, the first thing I noticed was a large black bear, slightly above my eye level, and running flat out parallel to me about 30 feet away in the same direction.  Between concentrating on my riding and the trail ahead and disbelievingly looking back over at the bear, I noticed he was both keeping up with me and closing the gap to me.  The bear was large, very black with a brown muzzle.  As he drew even closer, I noticed that he was running so hard that his claws were ripping up dirt and vegetation and flinging it up behind him.  The impression of speed and power was quite mesmerizing, and all the time I assumed I was in no danger, that I had spooked it, and it was just going snap out of it's shock and veer away. 

 

It didn't.  Instead the bear gradually started to close the gap and got nearer and nearer until, unbelievably, it was three or four feet from me, running at 30-35 kmh exactly parallel and level with me.  I could have reached out and touched it.  Certainly in the quick glimpses I got between continuing to navigate my bike up over the incline, I could clearly see it's muzzle was light brown with scaring; and that it's coat was black.  Only at this point, ridiculously, did I sense that I could be in a bit of bother, and I snapped out of my trance-like wonder and disbelief and gunned the throttle.  The bike took off, the bear swerved towards me and miraculously passed behind the bike - flashing across my mirrors and behind me by mere inches, continuing across the trail and was swallowed up by the forest of cedars and the like. 

 

I grabbed the brakes and stopped hard, flicking down my stand and practically falling off the bike, just in time to see its large black rump enveloped by the forest.  Andy crested the rise and wondered what all the fuss was about.  I breathlessly recounted the story, and, frankly, I wouldnt' be surprised if he didn't believe a word of it!  He hadn't seen a thing.  While the whole experience was surreal, it happened.

 

I didn't sleep too well that night, or the night after: one thought kept coming back to me, that whenever I got the chance to look at the bear, it never actually made eye contact with me, and that it only veered off at the last moment.  The unpleasant thought that the bear was hunting me was quickly dismissed, as it could have easily jumped me by the time I reacted - it was certainly close enough.  It's ears were back as if it was frightened.  The thought that it was spooked is certainly possible, but why run steadily towards the source of the noise, and commotion of a 650 dirt bike thumping and barking it's way up a dirt grade with it's high beams on?  The bear had plenty of time to avoid me, and plenty of cover to disappear in.  So I began to research via the Internet, google, you tube and the like for an explanation.  It didn't take long before I came across several descriptions of ATVers and Dirt Bikers having experienced the same thing, although not locally. 

 

It is certainly a sobering thought that the bear wasn't apparently intimidated by the bike - something I have always assumed would be the case, indeed, has been the case on every other occasion I have come across a bear on the bike.  The bear wasn't running erratically like a scared deer, but purposely, strongly and, perhaps, aggressively.  As I said, chunks of vegetation and dirt were thrown backwards into the air by it's front and back paws as it closed on me. It's head was down, ears back and it never looked directly at me.  It only swerved at the last moment behind the bike, when, clearly, it could have charged or hit me easily.  

 

Initially I had thought the bear was spooked and reacting like I have seen deer do so many times before; that it was trying to pass in front of me. But as it kept pace with me and obliquely approached me, I began to realise we were going to collide. That's when I gunned the throttle and took off, and, fortuitously just when the bear passed behind the bike. 

 

The one explanation and pattern that I keep reading about is the bluff charge.  Often a sow with cubs will do this, and although I didn't see any cubs, that doesn't mean there weren't any...

 

My only regret is that in all of this, I didn't have the time or the mental clarity to switch my camera on.  I've been on this trail so many times, that I don't bother turning the master switch on to save battery power until I'm nearer my destination.  I'll think twice about that from now on!

 

Moreover, I will be carrying some bear bangers or flares from now on...

Alternative Alder To Heart Lake

Alternative Alder to Heart Lake

Briefly, Andy, Sebastian and myself took a ride out to Heart Lake.  We wanted to explore different routes around the key trail we use.  Parts of the key trail are particularly overgrown with Alder and there are some rocky sections that will be a challenge in the future as the Alder grow rapidly and the weather turns wet.

 

Below is an overview of the whole trip.

 

 

Below is the detail of the "Alternative Alder Trail" we tried. Green is the key, which we is the usual route.  However, the Alternative Alder route is after the first left turn after the key trail.  As you can see it stops...  The yellow trail is the usual route which is passable, but won't be for much longer unless a quad or two cuts us a path...

 

 

Below is the detail of the Heart Lake ascent.  Sorry about the path dodging all over the lake, I put the GPS in my pocket and I guess the reception was great...

 

The fishing was good for Andy and Sebastian, but I missed the only two bites I got.  The lake is very picturesque though, and we did see a bear on the mountainside overlooking the lake. 

 

 As you can see, the Alternative Alder route was anything but...It eventually got so thick that we had to turn around (no easy feat) and head back to the usual route...

 Andy at Heart Lake

 Sebastian and his KLR at Heart Lake

 Here are some videos: At first the Alder Alternative Route looked promising...

 

 

Ahh, but then, things changed...

 

 

And, believe it or not, got worse...

 

 

 

At