In Search of gravel in North Burnaby
A new bike is as good an excuse as any to explore. It was a solo ride, so apologies in advance for all the bike pics… This ride is inspired by our recent BC Bike Infrastructure index and the mapping for it, as I realized there were a few local trails I hadn’t ridden before. I’ve also been thinking about how gravel trails fit into our active transportation network as we shift from a focus on all ages and abilities to levels of comfort in BC…
When I say in search of gravel… I’m fortunate in some sense, living on Burnaby Mountain as it’s surrounded by gravel trails, albeit some quite steep ones! So the plan was to begin and end with those, but take in some others to try and create a loop around North Burnaby and check out at least one new feature of Burnaby’s transportation network along the way. I managed to get a 40 km ride and about 50% of it gravel which isn’t too bad… Despite being largely downhill to begin, there is one little uphill section on the Trans Canada Trail…
I often stop here on the way up the hill to take a break and take in the view over to the Belcarra/Indian Arm area… It’s better in winter when the view is more exposed…
This trail can get the thighs trembling hiking down… But this might be the first time doing it on a bike, and other than the first corner, it wasn’t too bad…
I could smell my brakes by the bottom though…
The Barnet Trail parallels the Barnet Highway not far below. Except for the hill at the beginning, this rolling trail was a super fun section to ride… I guess we have BC Hydro to thank for a lot of these trails!
I always have an urge to take a photo of this every time I go by…
If you wondered how construction was coming along at the mountain bike skills park…
Drummonds Walk was one of those trails I’d never really paid attention to, but essentially you can traverse the entire north side of Burnaby Mountain on trails or pathways only having to cross Barnet Highway at a couple of locations…
And from there, after a bit of sidewalk riding along Hastings, I was back on more familiar trails… I think this is technically called Stratford Park, but we’re still on the Trans Canada here…
With the occasional epic view over to the North Shore…
Bike silhouette and the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge from below…
Ironworkers grafitti…
Thought this would work better… The Home Depot colours matching the bike colours…
Construction gravel… The new Holdom overpass…
Where am I to get this photo?
The new Burnaby Lake overpass…
And a view of the whole thing…
Then back on gravel dodging snakes along alongside Highway 1, another section i’d never had the urge to ride until the new overpass was built…
And heading back up the Power Line Trail, again, I guess thanks go to BC Hydro for this one…
Back to that question at the top… A gravel trail definitely isn’t suitable for all ages and abilities… There’s just too much scope for variation in surface and deterioration during bad weather… But when we start classifying by level of comfort, it is definitely comfortable for some, not most, but some…
While many of these trails are pretty urban in places, they’re unlit, still feel somewhat remote with no eyes on them. They become even less comfortable during winter commuting hours when it’s dark, and for all of those reasons, I think while some definitely find gravel trails comfortable, the some are not equitably distributed across demographic groups.
Having said that, does the feeling of comfort vary by community? Maybe in smaller communities, gravel trails are more common and the feelings of safety vary less with fewer urban issues to worry about… Generally speaking though, relying on gravel as a critical transportation link is most often not the right approach, and we should endeavour to provide paved and lit pathway networks whenever possible. Gravel trails have value for sure, like on my fun ride on this day…
Wondering what gravel trails exist around you? Check out the previous blog post about our BC Bike Infrastructure Index and the mapping within…