Canadian Rails-Trails!

The other day I ran into three men who were taking a four-day bike trip on some of the same paths that I was. Most of these paths are rails-trails, that is, old rail lines that have stopped being railroads for various reasons and now are paths. One of the guys described them as “unpredictable,” which has 100% been my experience.

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That was the Slocan Valley Rail Trail, which was fully delightful (other than the mosquitos, which aren’t the path’s fault;) I took this trail almost all the way from Nelson to Slocan, I think over 40km of separated path, basically all along the lovely Slocan River. The surface was generally predictable (the first few kilometers were even paved), and it was fully pleasant biking. Plus there were a million perfectly ripe thimbleberries lining the path, which you know I foraged like the little berry monster I am;)

Today, on the other hand, I took a variety of paths that were much more of a full-body experience. The Galena path from New Denver was fully lovely: more along the Slocan River (or Slocan Lake as it’s called there), easy to follow, beautiful through the forest but also right on the side of the lake. There were lots of spots to pull off and play and it was just a great path in every way.

And then after Hills — a location, that is, not a geological feature;) — it kind of all went to shit.

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(Yes, I’m on the trail. And this actually was a fairly nice part of it;) Don’t mind the apocalyptic wildfire smoke in the background)

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I later learned via a sign that would have been helpful to see on the southern side too, that this section of trail between Hills and Summit Lake stopped being maintained in 2017. Which might explain why I had to portage across a crossingless creek, balancing my (quite heavy!) bike on some awkward fallen logs, or why there’s a whole “beaver pond detour” that is much more mountain bikey than rails-traily, or maybe it explains the way I took my shoes and socks off to ford a shin-high lake that blocked the path for a sec.

But even on the maintained sections today I was thinking of that dude’s word ”unpredictable,” since that totally encapsulates it. On a bike with bigger tires I’m sure it wouldn’t matter, but it’s like bam! You’re in rocks! Oh wait! Now it’s totally loose and shifty sand! Just kidding, it’s actually a smooth forest dirt path. Oh, no wait, now you’re bushwhacking through the weeds and hey now it’s hugely rocky again even though it looks like it might once have been a nice capped crushed rock. It definitely kept it interesting;)

(And this is only from today, but also matches the unpredictability of the earlier parts of the trans-Canada trail I was on too.)

I persisted today because I think this will be the last rail-trail I run into for a while, so despite it being harder biking I tried to soak in my car-free riding while I could. And honestly it was pretty great, even without the millions of thimbleberries:) I love that trails like this exist. I just might have been a little under-biked for some parts of them;)