Great Bicycle Trails

 

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Great Bike Trails

Vancouver Island, B.C.
(near Seattle, Wash.)

Tammany Trace
(Near New Orleans)

Colorado Rockies
(West of Denver)

Great City Rides

Cycling Albuquerque:
From Airport To Sandia Pk

New Orleans:
Airport To French Quarter

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The Galloping Goose Trail, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

The old Todd Creek Trestle, Galloping
Goose Trail
(photo courtesy Jackie Moss).

Southern Vancouver Island is a picturesque and pleasant place for a bicycling holiday. A combination of urban neighborhoods, farmland and untamed wilderness, the area offers several excellent trails for extended riding. The big three are the Galloping Goose, the Lochside Trail and the Cowichan Valley Trail. Combined, these trails offer up over 150 kilometers of riding in truly beautiful countryside.

About The Trails
All three trails are former sections of the Canadian National Railway. The Goose runs 55 kilometers northwest from Beacon Hill (a park on Victoria's Inner harbor & Kilometer 0 on the Trans Canada Trail) to Leechtown, an abandoned gold mining community in the forested interior. Along the way, the Goose passes urban neighborhoods, farmland, quiet coves, marsh, still lakes and the deep, deep, polished rock pools of the Sooke Potholes. The Lochside Trail also starts in Victoria; it's a spur of the Goose that heads north from the Switch Bridge, running 29km up the Saanich Peninsula to Swartz Bay. This trail passes urban areas, farmland and offers spectacular ocean vistas; it runs near Victoria's airport, the ferry landing in Sidney to the US and B.C. Ferries' Swartz Bay ferry terminal to the Canadian mainland. The Cowichan Valley Trail is the most secluded; it is only partially complete but traverses spectacular scenery including raging rivers, the world's longest/highest wooden railroad trestle (the Kinsol), forests containing some of the world's tallest trees, temperate moss-shrouded rainforests and more. Inquire locally before attempting the Cowichan.

Getting There
From the USA, your best bet is to fly into SeaTac (Seattle/Tacoma Airport; code SEA). From SeaTac, ride the #194 bus downtown to the International Distict Tunnel Station. Take the escalator to steet level then transfer to the #99 Waterfront Trolley to Pier 69. At the Pier, take the Victoria Clipper seasonal passenger ferry directly to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Transit time from Seattle's Pier 69 to Victoria is about 3 hours but arrive early so you don't miss the boat. Round trip internet fares for the ferry start from $75 US. Alternately, there are other ferries with regular service from Vancouver Island to Vancouver, Anacortes, Seattle and Port Angeles, Washington.

Bike Trail Lodging
To fully enjoy the natural beauty of this region, it will be necessary to stay for a minimum of at least a few days. Getting to Vancouver Island typically requires a flight and a ferry ride so it may be wise to stay in either Anacortes, Port Angeles, Seattle or Vancouver at the beginning or end of your stay on Vancouver Island so you make your connection home. Descriptive info about lodging in these cities as well as on Vancouver island can be found here.

More Info...
Here are more sites that will help you plan your journey to British Columbia:

GallopingGooseTrail.com: Unofficial site for the Galloping Goose but has great info
Capital Regional District Parks: Official site for the Galloping Goose & Lochside Trails
Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition: Timely, local cycling info
Cycling Vancouver Island: Wide variety of useful planning info for a local cycle trip
Kelly Koome's 2001 TCT Trip Report For Vancouver Island, BC
Explore Vancouver Island's Cowichan Valley Trail info
Cycling BC's Trans Canada Trail: Maps, photos & trail descriptions
Alternate Cycle Tour Routes in Saanich (a Victoria suburb) on Vancouver Island

Folding bikes for travel
Some even fit in the overhead bin on your flight.

 

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