So I finally got around to hacking my way through that 15km loop trail off Forebay Road in Jordan River and GPS mapping it all out.
It's not much to look at really, but this trail is near and dear to me because I've been going out here for many years to pick chantrelles and hedgehog and pine mushrooms in the fall. A lot of the good productive ground has been logged out now but there are a few nice healthy mature blocks left that still produce so I usually make a trip or two up there every year just to check it out. I like to cruise this loop looking for the right elevation and exposure to pick at and then I'll camp overnight at the quarry if the next day looks promising, or move on to timberline if I'm too early.
This year the trail terrain itself seems to have survived the winter relatively intact minus a couple sink holes, washouts and trees down but the foliage is really starting to take over in some places. Trailblazing this in the spring is usually not a big ordeal but this time I was bushwacking more than driving. Looks like a lot of heavy snow fell over the winter and really keeled stuff over. I only hacked out what I needed to in order to get through and I just went slowly through the rest.
It's a pretty stock friendly trail once it's been tamed down a bit but you're liable to break some plastic and get a lot of island pin-striping if you're not careful.
As I mentioned before, almost everything on the west side of Forebay Road (left side going up) is now private property so stay out of the old pit area.
There is a gate on the road going in to the loop but in all my years going out there I have only ever seen it closed once and that was while one of the blocks back there was being cut and there was machinery and lumber left sitting in it so they locked it up to prevent the usual BS from happening, but otherwise it's always open.
If anyone else here picks mushrooms and wants company, I prefer to go with someone else for safety in case someone twists an ankle or worse in the bush.
Wikiloc Trail
https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=17909678
Love the exploring your doing mate! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for posting your loop and helping the rest of us stay informed!
you're finding you're way around......same route ..10..can also lead to [bridge???]muir cr.m/or 11 to lower hidden lk and?
That loop trail has some branches off of it but they are all dead ends, it's sort-of a closed system once you hit that right side.
I have found and found out about a couple of things this year for sure, now that the Tracker is a bit better equipped to deal with what's back there.
Oh, and yes I did get in and explore that Tugwell block. The GF & I had a great day and found a really sweet place to camp, also ran in to a few wheelers heading to Tugwell Lake but I couldn't imagine how the trucks they were running could make it past that can opener and we didn't follow them to find out. There was one part we didn't get to explore that I was really looking forward to but we turned back when we could see heavy machines operating up the hill from us. Next time...
Don't be afraid of can opener. its nothing really. i have seen stock jeeps do it easily. i may be out that way tomorrow
Attempted the loop trail on Sunday, in a counter-clockwise direction. Extremely overgrown so the going was not a lot of fun. Turned back when the branches closed in lower and started to hang up on my roof rack. Pinstripe city. Would be nice to get in there with a small tractor with a brush cutter and knock it all back a couple meters........or just buy a more baddass rig with no paint ;).
Yeah I imagine there would have been a lot of knockdown from the recent snow and it was already pretty tight in some spots. I cleared it a bit in April 2017 and I doubt very many people bothered to go through it since. That trail has to be hacked back every spring or it turns in to a jungle again.
I wonder what it would take to clear it all out? I only got in a couple kilometres at most. Does it open up further in or is the whole thing a jungle track?
I would be down with helping brush it out if it was a task that was possible for manual labour.
It's mostly just the small weed alders growing in on it and some thickets that are reaching for some light. The worst sections for being grown in are are on the northeast part of the loop. In some places I couldn't see 10' in front of me and lot's of island pinstriping there. I wanted to keep it passable because there is an old trail that can be cut through to secret lake in about a day of hacking and lately TW has been trying to trench out the current trail to it because it's becoming a more popular destination for ATV's and offroaders now that a lot of people know about it.
are you talking about aligator main being overgrown? if so, there is no need to clear it. guys use it as is all year long.. please dont make it a highway.
No, we are discussing another route, not Alligator Main.
No Jay, there is another way one could get to it from the Forebay side. A couple old logging road branches remain from the last time that area was logged and they almost connect. My uncle told me about it a long time ago but it hasn't been used in such a long time it has become very overgrown so you'd never know a road was even there. I don't plan to hack though it though, unless TW decides to block off the existing trail. Just a back-up plan.
For the sake of this discussion, let’s call the loop route we are talking about the “Desolation Creek Loop”. This screen capture is from some random enduro riders GPS track, so the path he took is not important. But if you tap the photo for full res, and zoom in (ignoring the green line), it does show the abandoned spur I think you are talking about that would provide an alternate access to Hidden / Alligator lake from the Desolation Creek Loop. The spur heading north from the loop towards the lake where obviously the enduro rider made it coming south via Alligator Main. Would be cool if that road was made drivable again, if that’s the one you are talking about.
Its all good, I was just saying there is no real need to clear the small alders. thats what keeps the shiny paint wheelers out of the backcountry.
Y,know, my explorations down the alder choked tracks of Forebay road all ended in piles of garbage, literally thousands of plastic shotgun shell casings, and abandoned appliances. Maybe the problem is the shiny paint wheelers aren’t getting in there? I dunno.
What is for certain, is some real morons are getting in, shiny paint or scratched. It’s a shame.
Yep, trashers are just idiots, I hate driving up to piles of crap after a nice trail. Really thankful alot of groups go out and do cleanups.
I was out on that loop trail today with a couple buddies and it is totally overgrown. Alders getting jammed up in roof racks and breaking stuff. I ended up needing to plug a front tire too. Turned around less than halfway through. Went back in onto tugwell main and kept going up and up. Nearly to tugwell lake, we turned around by the concrete barrier because we were running low on daylight. Roads and trails were all very passable and enjoyable in that spot! Looking forward to going back and making it to the lake and exploring further as time allows
Where is the can opener trail? Heard of it three times now but haven't been able to make it...once football season is over then I 2ant to start going out again
Thanks for the update on the loop. Maybe completing this loop is the new “tough truck challenge”.
Funny thing is, the brush is so thick overhead, you might be able to do it no problem in a Corrolla. Just slip underneath it all. Need a lowered Samurai ;).
Can opener is a short trail that starts at tugwell lake and goes down to butler main. pretty easy.
the forbey loop is all pretty easy stuff and has been a learning grounds for newbs for lots of years. There is some real awesome trails in the area once you get comfortable and meet up with some other guys. but you will need at least 35" tires and lockers and expect the possibility of body damage.
I too would like to learn about this can opener. It sure has a great name, after all
Can opener is stock friendly, not what it used to be.
this is going down.
keep in mind, this was my old jku on 37's
i think " stock friendly" has to be better defined lol. Just looking at this pic I know lots of stock vehicles that probably wouldnt make it
I watched a stock xj go up it in 2 feet of snow
There's almost 20 years worth of weed growth back there, they could be over 6" in diameter by now.
did basically that forebay loop. fun, quiet. lots of pinstriping. went down as many little spurs as possible. further you get the less trash there is at least. little bit of snow around 700m had to cut down a lot of overgrowth. nothing that needed a saw. didnt see anyone but two stock jeeps leaving when i rolled in mid day.
That third pic looks like a hwy now. LOL
i prefer to not clear stuff like that, keeps the riff raff out. I just roll through it.