Vancouver Island Mid-Island Bikepacking Loop

by Roger Chayer
2 years ago
Near Fanny Bay, CA

90 views

This bikepacking route was established in the Summer of 2021 over three nights and four days. This loop starts at Hastings Road in Fanny Bay as it facilitates the riding days to stop at the campgrounds. It crosses public and private forest lands, goes through a city without being on a road, and has a couple of BC's Vancouver Island prime campgrounds. When on private forest lands pay attention to possible closures. On both public and private be aware of logging activities, including logging trucks. On this trip there was one wild camping required. Water can be scarce so load up early and when the opportunity offers. It has some difficult sections but they are short. The highest elevation is 907m, and some great views. Travel is mostly on good gravel roads with some fun (blue) single track, the Nanaimo Parkway Trail is a great way to travel through Nanaimo, and paved road travel is limited to about 20%. The small supply stores - Errington and Meadowood - are basic, but don't miss out on the Sasquatch at Meadowood, the larger grocery stores are in Nanaimo, one conveniently located at the start of the Nanaimo Parkway Trail. There is a natural food store -Pomme Natural, as of 2022 - located on Metral Drive which is still enroute just off the Nanaimo Parkway Trail. When camping at Englishman River Falls check out the falls, and at Little Qualicum Falls campground the hike is a nice break from the bike. When at Little Qualicum Falls campground the Meadowood store can easily be accessed, by the trail. For a fun activity try out the Horne Lake Caves. Here there is also a campground and some wild camping opportunities about 3kms further on. Spider Lake is also a popular spot for a swim. As always use "Postive Impact Bikepacking Practices" follow this link - https://www.bikepackingroots.org/positiveimpact.html - The trip's rated difficulty is 5, using bikepacking.com's scale.