Snowden Demonstration Forest Trails

Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada

Snowden Demonstration Forest consists of a vast network of doubletrack and singletrack trails, located near downtown Campbell River, numbering at over 40 kilometers. The area features great rides for beginners, families, intermediate and advanced riders with a large number of techy trails suitable to the advanced/expert rider looking for a challenge. The local River City Cycle Club, the official stewards of the trail system, has done a great job over the last few years maintaining these trails and adding a bit more flow to many of the old school style of rides. Roots, rocks and rock slabs are the norm on the more advanced trails, incorporating tight and winding singletrack. A large network of beginner to intermediate trails exist, which are wider and more rolling in nature, providing options to connect and loop with the more advanced rides.

Technical marvels including Jabberwocky and Scotty’s are just some of the great and challenging trails you’ll find in the area; worth checking out. All trails in the area contain very little stunts and are mainly cross-country ranging from the beginner to advanced, with very little elevation gain.

A number of the trails are a part of the BC Bike Race, which comes through the area once a year; including Jabberwocky, where you might recognize the famous spiral bridge crossing the ravine, made famous by the BC Bike Race promotional material.

bikepirate rating:

Trail Stats

Distance: Over 40 km
Time: 1 hr - 4 days
Elevation Gain: N/A
Elevation Loss: N/A
Min Elevation: 140 m
Max Elevation: 280 m
Technical Rating: Beginner - Advanced
Physical Rating: Easy - Moderate
Season: Year round
Permit Required: No

Trail Location

Trailhead: Snowden Demonstration Forest is located 13 km from town. Take Hwy 28 west towards Gold River and Elk Forest; following the signs to Snowden. Turn off Hwy 28 onto Brewster Lake Road, indicated by the sign. From here it’s 5.7 km to the Lost Lake parking area. Drive the paved road across a bridge, over the dam, to the turn off onto the Loveland Bay gravel road - left. From here it’s 3.7 km to the well-marked Lost Lake parking lot located on your right.

GPS:
N50 03.453 W125 22.640 (Lost Lake)
N50 04.041 W125 20.980 (Lost Frog)
N50 03.571 W125 22.843 (Riley Lake)

Downloads

Map: click here
GPS Map (GPX): click here
Google Earth: click here
River City Cycle Club: click here
Trail Report: click here

Google Earth trail view only works if you have the program; download it here (free)

Trails

There are over 40 kilometers of trails in the Snowden Demonstration Forest. To date, we’ve covered the following in detail and have added them to bikepirate for your review.

Suggested Loops

From Lost Lake Parking lot take Lost Lake trail north over to Mudhoney Pass. Take a right (east) on to Mudhoney Pass and ride over to Scotty’s. Ride west on Scotty’s (trailhead to Scotty’s is across Lost Lake on the left side when you spit out of Mudhoney) to Riley Lake. Once you hit Riley’s turn right  and head north. Look for Gun Barrel not far up the trail and take it across to the Access road. Head left (south) down the Access Road to Jabberwocky. Take Jabberwocky right (east) to Pepper Spray. Turn right (south) on to Pepper Spray and look for Cheshire Cat on your left. Take Cheshire Cat to Oggies back to Riley Lake. Take a right on Riley Lake over to Tri Mac and back down (south) Lost Lake to the Lost Lake parking area. This is a super fun and technical loop to try if you’re up for the challenge.

Please suggest your own routes in the comments section below.

 


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