SUMMER OF SCOUTING PART 3 - FERNIE, BC
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For our third scouting trip of the season, we packed up the trailer and headed for Fernie, BC. Fernie is the original TransRockies Challenge start host community and is our longest standing continuous community partner with the support of the Fernie TransRockies Society, Tourism Fernie and the City of Fernie. The community has changed a lot since the TransRockies started in 2002. Mountain biking is certainly a big part of the fabric of the community, alongside skiing in the winter. Multiple extensive and ever-expanding trail networks surround the town, plus Fernie Alpine Resort which operates for skiing and snowboarding in the winter also has top-notch mountain biking operations in the summer. For this weekend, we’d be staying at the Fernie RV Resort. Only a few years old, this campground is a great base camp for mountain biking, and features yurts and tent sites in addition to the RV sites.
To kick off the extended weekend we had sunny skies and we decided to tackle the biggest objective first - an 80km gravel scouting ride up the Bull River to Sulphur Creek, over Hartley Pass and back to Fernie. Joining me again was my intrepid friend Rob Savin, whose first scouting experience a few weeks before had included countless raging creek crossings and endless bushwhacking. It was definitely a testament to his character that he would agree to join me for another one of these adventures, but I also saw it as an opportunity for redemption given that this ride should be much more straightforward. It helped that local hot-shot rider Carter Nieuwesteeg (organizer of the Fernie Gravel Grind) had ridden the same route the week prior and declared it gravel bike friendly and good to go!
I asked my wife, Erin, to drop us off at the lumber yard in Galloway to start the ride. As we were gearing up beside a giant stack of telephone poles, a friendly local pulled up to inquire about our plans. “It’s pretty rough up that way,” he warned, “are you riding those road bikes?” I knew from past experience how rough those forest service roads are in a pickup truck, but that on a bicycle you have the ability to weave a line around most of the potholes and around the washboards. With a friendly wave he wished us a good ride and we were off.
As expected, 40c gravel tires are the perfect tool for these roads. With virtually no vehicle traffic, you can use the whole road and constantly search for the optimal line for smooth rolling and minimal pothole impact. Average speeds are only a few km/h slower than riding a road bike on the pavement and the wider tires are great for smoothing out most of the rough stuff. The kilometers ticked by as we passed an impressive dam at Bull River Falls and made our way up the Bull River to Sulphur Creek, where we started climbing more steadily up to the pass.
We stopped at a bridge over the creek for a snack and spotted a moose with large antlers just up the creek. The moose regarded us with concern and moved on up the creek out of sight. We continued gaining elevation up the moderate grade, which got a little steeper as we approached the pass, pushing me into the lower range of my gravel gearing. The pass served up views of Hartley Lake and the Elk Valley below as text notifications on my phone indicated that we were back in cell range at this point. A high speed descent down to the valley had me briefly missing my mountain bike but was easily managed on the gravel bike. A quick spin on pavement brought us back into town and rolling into the campground. It was another great reminder of the adventure potential of this type of bike - they can cover a lot of distance on variable terrain - taking you to some spectacular places!
With the gravel ride successfully completed, we shifted focus back to the mountain biking trails for Day 2. For the morning, a family singletrack ride was on the agenda. We had a local rider, and one of our event crew, Klyde DeGroot as our guide. Some of the trails were still damp from recent rains so we stuck to some of the better drained options that would be most fun for the group of teenage and adult riders. We headed for Ridgemont - one of the most popular and accessible riding areas in Fernie - with trails to delight a wide range of abilities. Local trailbuilders were putting finishing touches on a new trail called “Roxy Roller” which connects into a very popular flow trail called “Space Unicorn”, with it’s signature corkscrew feature. This descent was so popular with our group that we climbed up and rode it a second time.
The Ridgemont area is planned for the first half of a Singletrack 6 stage for 2021, with the second half of that stage planned for the Castle Mountain trails. With light rain falling, we headed out for a second ride of the day with a smaller group - with the Hyperventilation climb up first. This climb has been used in several past editions of TransRockies Challenge and Singletrack 6 and is a bit like the Alpe d’Huez of mountain biking. With 500m of climbing from town and dozens of switchbacks all told, the biggest challenge is the tight and technical climbing switchback. It is a little more tricky when the roots along the trail are a bit damp as they were on this day. Tongues out, we made it to the junction with Today’s Special, which is planned as the timed descent for this Singletrack 6 stage next year.
Sustained steep sections followed by tight turns make this trail a fun challenge for expert riders. Tacky conditions are ideal to ride this trail, but on this day they were more greasy - adding to the challenge a bit! Nevertheless it was a blast of a descent. We extended the ride with a lap of “Smooth Salamander”, part of the Elk Valley Trail, which is in part an extension of The Great Trail. As we reached the further reaches of this trail we encountered a group of riders riding up a shuttle road. This group turned out to be a fundraising ride by locals Ev Eijsermans and Strahan Loken, raising money for the Elk Valley Suicide Task Force. They had been riding since 5 AM and were planning to ride until 10 PM. Any thoughts I had about being tired were kept to myself when I realized that these guys were already 11 hours into their riding day!
Sunday morning, Father’s day, dawned cloudy with showers in the forecast for Fernie. With our Fernie scouting goals already completed for this trip, we decided to head for home with a stop in Crowsnest pass on our way, where the forecast promised sunny skies. The girls strongly voted in favour of a return visit to Pass Powderkeg to ride Buck 50 again and it seemed like the perfect way to celebrate Father’s Day. Our group for today was Erin and I with our girls, Rob with his two girls, and our old friends Ben and Christine and their eight-year old son, Sebastian. This is a pretty epic ride for a kid that age, but he had a great time, and so did all the kids and dads! Another epic scouting weekend in the books, we headed for home with tired legs and smiles on our faces.
Singletrack 6 Fernie Promo Video
Fernie Finale of the 2019 TransRockies Classic
Aaron McConnell is the President and Chief Cycling Officer of the TransRockies Race Series. Normally, you will find Aaron, along with his wife Erin and daughters Cici and Kyleigh at TransRockies events. This year they are spending the summer scouting routes for future TransRockies Events.