Backroads - South Vancouver Island
The web of logging roads on Vancouver Island provides access to some interesting places. I have explored a fair bit of these roads in the last years and the places you can reach never cease to amaze me. It’s like the ultimate adventure, going up or down a dirt road, without an idea what will be at the end of the road. Sometimes it’s just a patch of clear cut, but sometimes you reach a jewel, like Weeks Lake.
The Shawnigan Lake area provides access to an area of logging roads through Old Port Renfrew Road. The area is littered with small beautiful lakes and patches of old growth. Of course some of it is like a guy with a bad haircut. The clear cuts are all around, stark and desolate compared with the lush forest that contains them.
Up by Port Renfrew the Braden Main provides an access to some cool places. High vantage points allow a rare view over the forest. Again, this view is a result of some severe clear cutting in that area.
By going from Port Renfrew to Lake Cowhichan, the San Juan Recreation site can be reached. Beyond the rec site there is another tangled web of logging roads, going in all directions. Branching out from Old Port Renfrew Road like a tangled Spruce.
The Jordan River area has an access point to the backcountry via Forby East Main. Beautiful waterfalls, gorges and old bridges occupy the time until the Diversion reservoir is reached. Although man made it is pretty in its simple form. Some of the side roads here lead to nothing but old party sites, but some offer a rare vista or a beautiful lake view. At the end of Forby East Main you reach Bear Creek Reservoir, that looks to be popular swimming place for the locals.
It is paramount when traveling these roads to remember that most of them are active logging roads. Be prepared to stop often and sometimes backing up to provide clear access for the logging trucks. A map and preferably a GPS is necessary when exploring these roads, it is easy to get lost as all the roads look similar and there are very sparse markings.
Related Links
Link to the overview map
Links to Topographic maps of the area
Story and Photography Snorri Gunnarsson
Snorri,
We often forget what we have in our backyard. Thanks for reminding us.
Abby
Great story and photos, Snorri.
I am regional coordinator for the south Island portion of the BC Breeding Bird Atlas project. Volunteers throughout the province are attempting to identify the breeding grounds of local birds.
The areas around the Bear Creek and Diversion Reservoirs haven’t been covered yet. How good are the roads? Are they passable in a “street” vehicle or is a 4×4 recommended? How about a bicycle?
If you know of any knowledgeable birders who travel these roads who might be interested in participating in the atlas project, I’d love to hear from them. motmot AT shaw.ca
More info at http://birdatlas.bc.ca .
Ann
Hi Ann
The road up to Bear Creek and Diversion Reservoirs is pretty easy, it´s mostly about visibility as the turns are pretty sharp and the road narrow, it should be no problem on a bike
Cheers
Snorri
hey gye
nice pictures!!
I spend a lot of time on the dirt roads as well. You call them logging roads and yet one of your first pictures is a clear cut. If the people who owned the land that you travel on were to see the bad publicity they would gate the roads. Most of the land around Jordan river is private lands and if it wasn’t for the kindness of these loggers none of us could use the roads, so please don’t piss them off. Thank you have a good day.
Chris
p.s. that kind of logging paid for our schools, hospitals, and roads for the last 75 years. IF PEOPLE DID THEIR RESEARCH THEY WOULD FIND OUT THAT BY NOT USING PAPER, OUR MILS CLOSE AND WE LEAVE ALL THAT FINE PULP IN THE CLEAR CUT BECAUSE THEIR IS NO MARKET FOR IT.
Hi Chris
No where in this article is there a bad word about logging or clear cuts. But the best witness to the shameful practice is your comment about not taking pictures of them. So in the end it is you who are shouting out the bad publicity and creating it at the same time.
The fact is that you can log with out clear cuts, ask the Swedish and the Norwegians they have done it for decades. And they have paper, schools, roads, hospitals etc.
Awesome work Snorri. I was doing some driving up above Jordan River recently as well. So fun exploring those roads. Just picked up some better tires today also. Should make it a little less nerve racking driving on all the sharp rocks. Thanks for sharing the adventurous images!
Chris all the roads are already gated except maybe on weekends and Timberwest owns the land and they do not allow me to access my mineral claims or work them,if all you do is goof around in a 4X4 on some dirt roads thats what makes them install more gates,i personally hope timberwest goes bankrupt and it’s not like they create any jobs seeing all the mills are closing,i am happy to see their stock droping on a daily basis and if you think that logging paid for schools or anything else and logging doesn’t destroy our earth then you must be blind.
My mistake,WFP manages(and destroys) the crown land in Jordan River but Timberwest owns alot of land there also.