October 4-5, 2025

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/

Getting There

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).

Trip Difficulty

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.”

Equipment and Gear

- mountain bike (full-suspension, hardtail, or rigid). Even though Bikepacking.com indicates the route is for mountain bikes, I think gravel bikes will be acceptable (though I've never done this route!)

- 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).

Campsite and Food

Again, from the Bikepacking.com webpage for the route, “There are numerous BC Recreation Campsites along the route, the majority of which are cash-only [...]. Wild camping on BC crown land is permitted in many locations on the west loop of the route.” All that to say, right now I have no decision made about a specific spot, though somewhere near the halfway point of the route makes sense.