A Midwinters Ride at the Dump
It’s a crisp, yet sunny January day and the roads are dry on the way up to ‘the Dump’. The bikes are loaded in the trunk, and butterflies start to flutter in my stomach as visions of rocky, forested singletrack dance through my head. We chug along slowly behind a garbage truck, until we’re finally able to break off into the gravelly parking lot that serves as the departure point to some of the best, and only sanctioned, mountain bike riding on southern Vancouver Island.
We unload the bikes and gear, and notice there’s only one other car in the parking lot: a small crowd for the 210 hectares of riding. This area is the Hartland Road Mountain Bike Park, also known as ‘the Dump’ because it sits beside Victoria’s municipal landfill and recycling centre. It’s part of Mount Work Regional Park, which is owned and administered by the Capital Regional District (CRD) Parks. However, it’s mostly maintained by SIMBS – the South Island Mountain Bike Society. They’re a not-for-profit volunteer organization that was founded to make sure the trails on South Vancouver Island are open and remain open for mountain biking. The trail system exists because of their tireless work.
“If it weren’t for SIMBS, the mountain bike trails wouldn’t be there. Working with SIMBS has been great. They’ve been very cooperative, and they provide a service that we can’t provide. They’re all about having fun in a safe and sustainable way,” says Michele Rempel of the CRD Parks. It’s currently the only CRD park that has an area designated for mountain biking, and through a license agreement with the CRD, SIMBS maintains trails, coordinates mountain bike events, and monitors trail use.
SIMBS has a number of facilities in the parking area including an air pump, bike wash station, washrooms, and notice board, so after a quick pit stop we set off leaving the clunking sounds of the garbage trucks behind us.
A rocky dirt trail leads into the park to a small technical training area at the base of the slopes. It has a variety of drops, bridges and teeter-totters to play around on, which is perfect for getting the blood flowing and working on your balance. There’s also a big bulletin board with a map so we stopped to check out potential routes, which can take you anywhere from lowland swamp to heady hilltops, over rolling terrain to the most challenging descents down steep rock faces.
The outdoor air was crisp, but the sun was warm against the skin as we set off on the Regional Trail that runs along the base of the designated riding area. Almost all of the trails in the park weave a network up the eastern side of Mount Work, and you can cut in at many different spots from this main trail.
The dirt was firm and grippy from the cool weather, which must have helped with the immediate upward climb, although given my gasping lungs it didn’t feel like it at the time! It’s a long and grueling ascent that starts in a lush, damp forest where the air is cool. Beams of sunlight flashed between the trees and brought to light the green moss on the forest floor like a giant green highlighter. As we gained elevation, the forest thinned and turned more to arbutus trees with their red peeling bark and curving trunks sprouting from the hillside, while the light beckoned us with the promise of getting to the top.
We stayed on the Regional Trail until we saw Lemmings Run – the black diamond route we were looking for. Like a ski hill, the trails are graded. They range from green circle to black diamond: stick on the green if you want a smooth cruise, or plunge down a triple black diamond if you’re looking for a rush. Be aware though, there’s not a ton of green routes other than the main artery trails. “Hartland is a very technical riding area, and there’s very little green. There’s a lot of blue, black diamond, and triple black diamond trails, so it’s very technically featured,” says Katharine Wright, the Vice President of SIMBS.
All of the trails at Hartland Park have markers with the name and grade of the route on them. That way if you get lost in the maze of criss-crossing trails you can figure out where you are pretty easily. SIMBS puts out a small version of the map we’d seen back at the technical training area and it has the routes and trail ratings on it too, so we had one stashed in a pack to keep ourselves oriented.
Our minds, however, weren’t on the map as we hammered our way up the steep pitches. One last push and then all of a sudden our efforts were rewarded as we popped out at an incredible vista, which is one of three lookouts in the park. It’s a wide, open area of slick rock and dazzling green moss circled by arbutus trees. It was the perfect place to take a break, and have a snack, as well as take in the silence of the forested valley broken every now and then by the echoing caws, clicks, and clucks of the ravens. To top it off, there were patches of hoar frost sparkling in the sun: the only reminder it was mid-winter!
With our bodies re-charged we cruised the ridgeline for a bit, rolling along exposed areas of rock, dropping back into arbutus groves, and then up and over other rock croppings. We were even treated to a great view of Mt. Baker from another one of the open areas.
The beauty of climbing to one of the higher ridges at Hartland is that you get a sweet rip down. Most of the singletrack is tight, twisty, and through the trees. There are a lot of naturally made features offering rock drops and rock rolls making it quite technical. Some areas are switchbacked too offering fast, banking sections of trail. My exhilaration level was high, as the visions of forested singletrack I’d had on the drive up became a reality. We whizzed down the trails making sure to watch out for banana slugs as we flew around the banked corners!
It’s always amazing how fast you get down, especially with memories of the long and exhausting up hill climb still fresh in the mind, and before we knew it we were back out on the main trail cruising to the parking lot. We sprayed off the bikes at the wash station to the backdrop of garbage trucks rolling by, and packed up our gear. With tired bodies and rosy cheeks we chugged slowly back down Hartland Rd. already with dreams of the next ride running through our heads.
For more information about SIMBS and riding at Hartland Mountain Bike Park please visit their website, or visit one of the many bike shops on the south island. For more information on Mount Work Regional Park please visit the CRD website.
Great Site, Very interesting information, keep up the great work and Info.