exploring extention ridge. theres a road every hundred meters in there. theres no one trail. its like one massive dirt playground. the land used to be owned by cfb chilliwack engineering. pipeline trail. trans canada trail and the new power lines are all located in this area. whiskey lake is the jewel. it has all levels of trails. not alot of bush on the dirt roads. so its great for not getting ur paint scratched. there ar ugly trails in there too. stock vehiclees can get around on 80% of it. its been mostly clear cut so the views r there. most fun trails are by viu and top of the ridges.
best way in is behind the new pump station in extention. its a hill climb. yehaa!!! if u stay on that trail and try to keep going west ull hit whiskey lake. there are many other roads u have to cross and jont over to get back on. u can get in on top of the mountain on south forks road. theres a good forestry road that has a dont dump octagon sign. stay on the main rd. stay straght. the funnest way in is kitty corner to viu. along the ditch on the park way. less than a km from the lights. its tight but fun and quickest way in. if u blink ull miss it. dont get caught!!!!! i think its some farmers back rd.
ill be playing all day in and around extention. ill be at whiskey lake at noon. its not a big area. u wont get lost. best map is google earth. theres too many roads. have fun!!! if u want to meet up or chat. its mike at 250 709 3992. please text.
saturday nov 10th. at noon ill be at whiskey lake.
mite see you there it 10 mins from my home
i made a map of extention from google earth. its acurate to 8yrs ago. lol. if i couldnt see the road i didnt draw it. the other is copied from regional district. its way off. shows the hiking trails. other maps r on that site.
http://www.rdn.bc.ca/cms.asp?wpID=1403
any way to get these sent to me? or a way to view these bigger?
You should draw it directly in Google Earth - then you can upload the kml file to the website
*edit* see instructions here:
this aint a finished map. just photocopy it so u can add in the rest of the roads later. u can copy the pic here. some was taken from google. some was taken from government of canada. and some of it is my own. this is a playground fo off roaders. it was restricted access for the longest time.
had a blast on saturday in extention. only 3 of us went. ill post pics when i have a chance. i hope to see u all in there crawlin around. tag me if ur into playing. mike 250 709 3992
Got to get a tour of the area today, thanks for showing us around today Mike. We all had a blast and will definitely be back again soon.
Will post pics later tonight/tomorrow.
Great area and amazing views all around...
Kevin
extension is also nanaimos utility alley.
there are all types of trails here. theres runs for plain suvs. to the extreme jeepers. creepers. :) nice lakes to camp or barbi. its only a few square miles. there not much under brush here either. so ur paints ok. not much mud either. rock rock n more rock. but been played on for years n years. the old wagon trail is a must from ext to chase river.
theres lots to see in coal town.
extension also has the dual water pipe lines. the trans canada trail. the abyss trail. coal mines. the infamous coal climb in downtown extension. just past extention and gogos we can access the river trail. that part of the new power lines are a dead end. so dont waist ur time. engineer department of cfb chilliwack had gun emplacements there to blast the coal. 3 in all on top of the ridges. thats how blood fart came to be. the ridges build up. i think blackjacks the biggest. and last. u can see mount cosmos from gogo ridge. it is the one with the best view. even the water pipe line has outstanding views. almost better than mount benson. harewoods plains and the wildflower preserve run all through extension. let alone it the islands hub for the power lines. theres four main lines.
nanaimo is the land of a thousand lakes. we in the top ten largest estuaries in the world. think of that every time u dig fill or drain. nanaimo is on a few of the same ridges. they carry into lady smith as well. all the way to nanoose. with all this broken land should be some of the easiest mineral deposits to get at. in extension u can see where they dug. old mine shaft and huge craters. some 50ft deep.
we starting in extension again. typical sunday morning. 11 am timys at south gate. mike 250 507 3992. noon at whiskey lake. april 21 2013
im not getting much interest. for all u pussies, extension is just where we start from. its a playground within the city limits. from there everything accessible. lakes, river, benson, blackjack, cougar bluff. it aint over grown and it has multiple categories of trails. from 2wd to full rock crawler. most is just stock 4x4 trails. its been cleared and ran over to well for a lot of underbrush. u can watch ur paint here. theres many lakes in the area. and if u break down its only a couple k to civilization. pinki lives out in extension and we would love to come laugh at u stuck. so go get stuck. have some fun. get good with ur machine. we will be adventuring out farther now that the snow has gone. so take advantage of being close to town to get the bugs out. keep all ur tires in the dirt! loco guru 250 709 3992
whats a harewood plain? when all the land is covered in 200ft trees there aint much sun around. i think these open spaces that surround nanaimo. the parkways built right through it. who let that happen? so to a local those holes of sun are like prime realestate a 100 yrs ago. so r all the bigger ridges. the trails up there are 1000s of years old.
but for whatever reason the harewood plains grow flowers. innumerable. i got some crappy cam. but it looks carpeted in flowers up ther. ext 1 -5 is a zoom. in extention. woodgrove 1-3 is a zoom too. the abyss is just beautiful. my cam dont show it. differ flowers in each area but similar in size. very small. theres nothing like this elsewhere on the planet. so remember the flowers before u spin ur tires or tread where no man has tread.
happy spring in nanaimo.
allong the abyss road are the better pics. but some were taken in ext. and the bushier pics are from just west of woodgrove.