Mt. Washington Gravel Circumnavigation

by Gavin MacRae
11 days ago
Near Courtenay, CA

15 views

This cool route climbs to the Mt. Washington ski hill on mostly gravel, then traverses the mountain clockwise, to end along Duncan bay mainline.

You can start on Forbidden Plateau road, the Comox lake dam, or in Courtenay for the full tour!

Regardless where you start, the highlight of this route is the climb up the Browns river valley, which initially makes a long hairpin around Wattaway creek, then up along the Browns river proper. The gravel here is steep and chunky in spots, with many hike-a-bike sections. Larger tires and low gearing is desirable.

Basalt buttresses tower over parts of the climb along the river, and the remote feel of this section belies its proximity to town. A level spot at about 49.71854, -125.23760 would make a lovely camping spot for an overnight bikepacking trip.

Past here, a 300 meter "bike portage" allows access from the end of the road to the upper network of logging roads south of the Strathcona Parkway. The portage is steep and takes about 15 or 20 minutes. See my other routes for more details on this.

After the portage, another 45 minutes to an hour of grunting up steep roads gains the ski hill and hopefully lunch at the Raven lodge. (I have found it's 4.5 to 5 hours to the ski hill at a steady, pushing pace, taking the full route mapped).

Then Rossiter main leads down, down, down steep chunky gravel that gets continuously better until you are cruising around the north shoulder of the mountain in a descending traverse to meet Duncan main.

Remember that a fanatical developer blocks access across the Puntledge river on Duncan bay main, which means the final leg must be on Forbidden plateau and Condensory roads.