Bikepacking The Englishman River Overnighter, July 19-20

We will follow The Englishman River Overnighter route—a 51km out-and-back route from Parksville to Englishman River Falls Provincial Park campground where we will camp for the night. The next day we will retrace our path from the day before to arrive home. This will be my first time on the route.

Bikepacking.com has an overview of the route: https://bikepacking.com/routes/englishman-river-overnighter/

Bikepacking.com also has a primer on bikepacking if you're just discovering the activity: https://bikepacking.com/bikepacking-101/

Logistics

Getting There

The adventure starts at Horseshoe Bay where we will board an early ferry to Nanaimo. If we take a vehicle, we'll likely carpool to Horseshoe Bay (we’ll follow BCMC’s Recommended Guidelines for Compensation of Drivers and also split the ferry cost). Once in Nanaimo it’s about a 30 minute drive to Parksville where we will leave the vehicle overnight. Alternatively, we may decide to leave the vehicles at home and, once in Nanaimo, ride our bikes the 38km to Parksville--I would only suggest this option if we can find a reliable route that avoids the narrow-shouldered highway between Nanaimo and Parksville. 

Trip Difficulty

The majority of the route follows multi-use trails and is non technical in nature, though it is reported that slick roots and rickety bridges are not uncommon, and there are a few short sections where we may need to lift our bikes over fallen trees or up steep embankments.

Equipment and Gear

- A rigid/hardtail mountain bike or a gravel bike with knobby tires would work well for the trip. Road bikes and e-bikes are not appropriate.

- The 10 essentials

- All equipment necessary to fix a flat tire

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

Campsite and Food

I will reserve a campsite at Englishman River Falls Provincial Park. The campsites are limited to three tents. I’ll book additional campsites if more than three people join. The cost for each campsite is expected to be about $23 and we will split the cost.

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