Trail Snapshot

Trails ridden this ride:

(loop) Fire road from the main access gate to Two and a Juice, Buggered Pig, Bronco's Perserverence, short connector section of fire road to Chinatown Railway, various fire roads and finally Cherry Picker to Dunsmuir Ave. and back to the Riding Fool Hostel.

Distance:

(estimated) 10 miles

Difficulty:

From easy to very advanced

Outdoor Travels Rating:

4 out of 5 bikes

Lessons Learned:

The trail ratings are not consistent. Trails with the same difficulty rating can vary wildly in actual level of difficulty.
A good rule of thumb if you are not a free rider or downhill rider is expect something on each trail that is a little harder than its rating. Three of the four "intermediate" trails ridden had a few runs in them that could be considered "advanced" by some.
Physically fit riders with low or no mountain biking skill can ride any of a large number of fire roads (gravel roads with no traffic) and create a nice loop ride with little or no actual single track trail riding.
Unless you are familiar with the trail system or ride with someone who does, you will need a map and a small compass to find your way around effectively.
Trail signs are few and far between.
Good maps are available at the Riding Fool Hostel and Dodge City Cycles in Cumberland.
Ride to Comox Lake. Take a lunch or have a snack there, it's well worth it!

Nuts & Bolts

Location:

Cumberland, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Access:

Trail acces can be found at the Cumberland Recreational Center. It's at the end of Dunsmuir Ave. in Cumberland. As you head down Comox Lake Road you will see a road with a yellow gate - this is the main trail head.

Activities:

Mountain biking!

Lodging:

Riding Fool Hostel - Owner Jeremy is knowledgable of local trails and very friendly. Accomodations were affordable and very nice as was our overall stay. We can't recommend enough! Bunks for singles and private rooms for couples available.
2705 Dunsmuir, Cumberland, BC, V0R 1S0
Phone: 1-888-313-FOOL, Fax: (250) 336-8253
website

Bike Repair and Rental:

Dodge City Cycles - These guys know their chain ring from their head tube.
Dodge City Cycles 2705 Dunsmuir Ave Cumberland, BC 250-336-2200

Maps Links and Photos

Maps and Links:

Comox Valley Road Map

Useful Links

Trail Photos:

Lots of great photos to give you a good idea of what riding here is like!

Two and a Juice Trail

Prety girl and a trail

Riding down

Buggered Pig

Roots!

Teetering

Plank Bridge

Bronco's Perseverance Trail

Bridge on a ridge

Curious area

Chinatown Railway Trail

Flowers along the trail

Makeshift bridge

Misc. Fire Roads

At Comox Lake

"Come swim in me"

Pretty scene on a fireroad

Cherry Picker Trail

Easy riding single track

Mountain Biking

Cumberland Area Trails

Vancouver Island, British Columbia, August 2003

Bike shop owners in leg casts, gnarly trails, rail trails, mountain lakes and great scenery!

Dana Farnsworth, Outdoor Travels

Moab, Utah; Slaty Fork, West Virginia; Ashville, North Carolina; British Columbia in Canada - what do these three places have in common? They are usually mentioned when talk turns to mountain biking “must ride” destinations. There are other great places to ride, but few offer the shear number of ride possibilities and thrills that these three do. While Moab and Slaty Fork are specific towns, British Columbia offers many more choices in a Canadian province that seems to be designed purposefully as one big outdoor activity center.

Central on Vancouver Island, British Columbia is the tiny town of Cumberland. The pace is slow, the population young and hip and the riding is, as they say in Cumberland, “wicked”. The biking folk in the great northwest are a different breed than the cross-country riding enthusiasts that I‘m used to being around. The BC hammerheads are, well, just plain nuts. They fly around on big 50-pound bulletproof bikes descending summertime ski slopes at dizzying speeds. When that’s over, they huck through primeval bright green forests while leaping over all sorts of jumps, defying common sense riding over man-made bridges and planks that at times resemble contraptions that Wiley Coyote himself must have constructed. Then they return home and ride wheelies down Main Street. In my case, I watched in amazement as the owner of Dodge City Cycles, Matt, test rode my bike “one-legged” down the center of town with one full-casted leg sticking straight out to the side while he pedaled half strokes with his good leg. Right on.

I have never been that interested in the free-riding or downhill scene myself. I’ve always been more of a cross-country guy. I was skeptical of the guys clad in layers of pads and the big motorcycle-looking crash helmets. Consider me a changed man. After a ride on a particularly tough trail that featured a plank bridge that had been crushed by a rock and then rerouted by another set of planks up and over the rock, I was discussing with our host Jeremy, the immense sense of satisfaction one might have if they could muster the balls to actually clean it. Jeremy replied, “I get air there”. Imagine that. I can’t. I have a newfound respect and, I should add, idolization for Jeremy and his insane friends. I don’t plan to be jumping off eight-foot drops anytime soon, as I have no desire to break my knee in three places (like Matt), but I do plan to push my personal envelope a little.

My experience riding on and around Vancouver Island can be summed up with one event: One evening while relaxing in the Riding Fool Hostel enjoying a post-ride beer, I peered out of the window and watched in awe as a kid practiced stunts on his bike. Wheelies, endos, back spins, bunny hops – he repeatedly performed all effortlessly. I thought aloud, “I really need more practice” - then took another swig of Lucky Lager.

Note: Not all the trails in the Vancouver area require a giant set of cojones and a X-games attitude. In addition to sketchy trails that give most riders a chamois short full of poop, my wife Kelli and I found flower-lined rail trails, sweeping fast hard-pack as well as steep climbs and descents on non-obstructed single track that tested one’s level of fitness and not sanity. The choices are almost endless.

Trail Log

For our second riding adventure my wife Kelli and I decided to explore the local area trails around Cumberland. They came highly recommended the previous evening over a few cold ones. Staying in the Riding Fool Hostel is very convenient for riding trails as it’s located a block or two from one of the main trailheads and the owner, Jeremy, is an avid biker full of lots of great information. Geared up and map in hand, Kelli I headed east on Dunsmuir Avenue towards the Cumberland Recreation Center. From there we spotted a yellow gate to the left, rode around it were immediately greeted with a signature uphill fire road flog. We were instructed to try out what the locals call the “LSD” loop. It would, in theory, have us bearing to the right after the gate, up the fire road until we spotted the “Two and a Juice” trail; back up the hill on “Buggered Pig” and then back down on “Bronco’s Perseverance”. The initial climb seemed tough enough. After the previous day’s climbfest on Hornby Island, this Florida flatlander was getting a rude early morning wake up call.

I spotted a trail that darted into the woods to the right. I figured it must be “Two and a Juice”, but I wasn’t sure. As soon as Kelli finished pushing her bike up the hill, we set off down the very rocky track. After a short period Kelli spotted a sign that informed us that we were on the correct trail after all. “Two and a Juice” started out flat and a little technical. Lots of rocks and roots made for an interesting ride. Soon I found myself on a short descent that required a zigzag line in order to clean its rooted and rocky surface. The first time through I cleaned it – no dabs or incidents. I stopped to let Kelli catch up and to have her take a picture of me riding this section. After she fired off a couple of pictures, I found myself precariously off-line. Fighting to keep it together, I rammed into a railroad tie and ate shit, ass over teakettle style, right at the feet of my wife. Pretty impressive am I. I did tackle the section one last time – no carnage.

“Two and a Juice” continued to please me and frustrate Kelli. While I found its nice drops and overall technical nature exciting, Kelli was pushing her bike around and wondering why this trail was listed as an intermediate ride. In my opinion, this trail was at the least a beginning advanced level ride. Towards the eastern end of “Juice” the trail began a slow descent that ended with a steep, short and technical descent that has a 90-degree left hand turn in the middle. As I waited, now back on the fire road, I spotted Kelli pushing her bike down the drop. She had experienced enough. These trails were a little above her ability. She was tired of endlessly walking her bike around in the woods like it was a constipated dog in a futile search of a place to drop a load. After a short discussion, Kelli offered to wait at the fire road while I rode “Buggered Pig” and “Broncos Perseverance”. According to my map “Bronco” returned within a short distance from the spot that Kelli was going to wait.

Off I went into the wilds of Vancouver Island’s deepest, darkest forests, but not before I had to ride up a lung busting section of single track at the beginning of “Buggered Pig”. “Pig” started exactly where “Juice” left off. But instead of continuing downhill, the first part of “Pig” was, as I mentioned, a grueling climb back up to the plateau. At the top I had to stop for a few seconds to catch my breath – and then I was off on my solo adventure. I was greeted with more of the same rocky and rooted single track. But I was in for a surprise. As if the trail itself wasn’t exciting enough, the locals had built all manner of narrow plank bridges, giant teeter-totters and catwalks to ride if you have the skill and overgrown testicles to do it. I tried my skill on a teeter-totter and one of the wider plank bridges. I would love to brag that rode everything I encountered flawlessly, but the truth is I walked or rode around the vast majority of these contraptions. I was intrigued by them, but didn’t want to risk an injury when I was virtually alone in the woods.

After a couple of nice technical climbs, I came to the end of “Pig”, which terminated at the junction of well-marked “Broncos Perseverance”. You can also access the fire road at this point too, if you desire to ride a different trail or ride back to the entrance. “Bronco” is a trail that runs predominately downhill back to within fifty yards or so of the beginning of “Pig” and the end of “Juice”. I was excited at the prospect of going down anything! Immediately on “Bronco” I was greeted with more plank bridges. This time with no option to ride around them. These were even more precarious. Built on the side of a rock cliff to the right and suspended above an immediate steep slope to the left, I imagined the world of hurt I would be in if I rode off the side and tumbled down the ridge. Yes, I pushed my bike through this part. To my amazement, the trail got tougher! A giant tree and a boulder that had slipped from the cliffs above had crushed one section of bridge. Undaunted, the local gonzo riders had built a new ramp that required a ride up the rock and over the tree. Yes, I walked this part. Soon after the crazy ramp, “Bronco” settled into a very long and fast descent. I held as much speed as a person with no knowledge of the trails surface would dare and, as the forest zoomed by in a blur of green, soon found myself at the bottom of the hill. Now, to figure out where I was. I can’t stress how handy a map and compass can be on this trail network. I used mine to successfully return to where Kelli was waiting for me.

Since Kelli hadn’t actually been on her bike very much at all yet, I hatched a plan to ride the “Chinatown Railway” trail and perhaps create a loop of some sort that we could both enjoy. So with a new game plan, we were off. “Chinatown Railway” is listed as an easy trail on our map and that it was. Surrounded by mounds of blooming flowers in all sorts of hues, we leisurely cruised down the flat two track. We had barely traveled a very enjoyable mile when we came upon Royston Road. From here we decided to continue on and see what we could find. Kelli had noticed on my map that one of the fire roads that joined “Chinatown” ran near Comox Lake. That was to be our new goal: to see if we could get a good look at the lake. Checking our map, it didn’t look like we could get that close. We figured that we could ride towards the lake and if we couldn’t see it, we could double back on a joining fire road that headed back toward Cumberland. Crossing Royston Road, (which we could have returned back to Cumberland on by turning right) we turned left (west) and picked the trail back up again after a very short distance. From here “Chinatown” became narrower – more like a wide single track.

Soon we came upon a very rickety bridge. Bridge is the operative word here, as this particular structure didn’t span the entire stream from bank to bank. It stopped short of reaching the opposite bank, which required a scramble up a short but steep dirt hill. After approximately a mile or less, “Chinatown Railway” ended at a spot where we had a view of some less than picturesque pond or extension of Comox Lake. I didn’t have much hope of getting closer. From this point, the trail was double track fire road. As we continued we noticed several roads intersecting ours that were not on our map. It was probably this moment of confusion that led us to passing the fire road we were going to turn around at. What a serendipitous mistake that was. After pedaling a short distance after our miscue, Comox Lake came into view to our left!

What a beautiful lake! Glacier-fed, crystalline waters framed by magnificent mountains were ours to behold. We were alone on a pretty pebbled beach. We played in the water, took many pictures and had a wonderful rest. I even went skinny dipping in the chilly water for a minute or two. Life is too short not to enjoy such compulsions. After a nice long break, we mounted up and headed back towards the junction we had luckily passed earlier. As we rode, brilliant streams of sunlight streaked through the forest canopy and turned the pockets of forest they kissed into a radiant Martian green glow. I don’t think I had been this happy and relaxed since, oh, maybe the day before. This was turning out to be a great vacation. We easily found the road we previously missed and immediately began a not so easy climb back up. Our new plan was to ride this fire road south to a connection with the intermediate trail “Cherry Picker”. From there, “Cherry” would take us back into town.

We located a trail off to our left that looked like it could be “Cherry”, but without a sign, we couldn’t be sure, so we continued on. As we pedaled down the road a little further we encountered a trail entering the road to our left and continuing to our right. It was “Cherry Picker” and we had passed the first access earlier. We turned right onto “Cherry Picker” and returned to riding single track. If you’ve been following along, you can probably guess what happens now. Yes, we had a rather long and tough climb up a hill. At the top, we were literally at the top of the hill. There was nowhere else to go but down, and that was a good thing! The character of “Cherry Picker” trail was by and large docile. Save for the tough climb, the rest was very easy riding single track. It wound through some nice wooded areas and some not so nice looking active logging areas. Kelli wondered aloud as to how this trail received the same rating as “Two and a Juice”. Honestly, “Two and a Juice” was much more difficult in comparison.

Once again, we encountered intersecting trails that were not on our map. Stopping several times to check map and compass, we made the best decisions we could as to which trail to take. After navigating through a logged area and a very short stint on a logging road, we regained a trail, made another guess or two and found ourselves exiting the woods behind a house. We had done it! We were back in town. I had navigated successfully – well, sort of... As we pedaled around the house and into the street, an old geezer yelled at us from his front porch, “That’s not a trail, that’s my back yard!” After apologizing, I mentioned to Kelli that he was only half right. That may have been his backyard, but that was definitely a trail! Apparently we had taken an access trail that someone had made that joined “Cherry Picker”. We had actually ended up on Dunsmier Avenue instead of Maryport. At any rate, we were pretty lucky. We were less than a couple hundred yards from the Riding Fool Hostel (our starting point).

There are a lot of options for riding in Cumberland no matter what level of riding skill you possess. Fire roads and trails of all levels can be strung together for a nice loop ride. Just be ready to be surprised at the wide variances in difficulty on same ranked trails. We had a small sampling of the trails around Cumberland.

Jeremy Says

Want a locals view point? Free riding guru Jeremy of the Riding Fool Hostel in Cumberland, BC is full of useful info. Here is his take on the Cumberland area trails.

Otherwise known as the shread-topia of Vancouver Island, Cumbreland is rich in trail from cross country and free ride to downhill. Primarily focusing on the intermediate to advanced rider, the trails here are progressive and technically challenging. Cross country loops start right out the back door of the Riding Fool Hostel and offer options of upto 2-3 hours in length. The free rider can also find amusement on these same trails as there are some well constructed stunts (log rides & teeter totters) as options along the way. The cross country trails are fairly rolling with no sustained climbs - excellent singlespeed terrain. The downhill/free ride options also start right out the back door but require a little more climbing (420 metres) to get the elevation required - the real fun begins on the way down. Trails like Bucket o' Blood, Ginger Minge, Dodge Balls, Grub, Stub, Pitty the Fool, and Chump Change will make you sweat adrenaline and leave you begging for more. These trails are peppered with stunts like log rides, ladder bridges, drops and gap jumps but also rely heavily on the naturally textured terrain to give you the best thrill. Words best used to describe these trails are tight and flowy. When you are done with your ride, plan on hanging out at Comox lake for a swim and some relaxation - then hit the cafe back in Cumberland for an espresso milkshake before the night begins!