Our trip will start and end in Campbell River where will follow Bikepacking.com’s Snowden or Dust—a 74km mixed-surface, singletrack-heavy overnight bikepacking route through the Snowden Demonstration Forest. We will overnight at one of the lakeside campgrounds that can be found halfway through the route. 

Bikepacking.com has an overview of the route, and the comments section includes several trip reports: https://bikepacking.com/routes/snowden-or-dust-route/

The adventure starts at Horseshoe Bay where we will board an early ferry to Nanaimo. Once in Nanaimo it’s about a 90 minute drive to Campbell River where we will leave our vehicles overnight--ideally we will carpool and we’ll split the cost for ferrying the vehicles and follow BCMC’s Recommended Guidelines for Compensation of Drivers to compensate drivers. Of course, if you’re already on the island, we’ll arrange somewhere to meet (Nanaimo or Campbell River).

According to Bikepacking.com, roughly 40% of the route follows singletrack, “which is sometimes tight, rocky, and full of roots. For the route to be truly appreciated and enjoyed, some decent mountain bike skills are recommended.” 

- A mountain bike (full-suspension, hardtail, or rigid) is ideal, though others have completed the route on gravel bikes.

- The 10 essentials

- All equipment necessary to fix a flat tire

- Camping gear (e.g., sleeping bag, tent, bivy)

- This is a self-supported trip, so bring food (and any needed food prep. Equipment) and water (and water filtration).