Month: December 2019

If you’re looking for somewhere to ride your quad or side x side this Christmas holiday season the Noble Canyon trails are calling you.

Noble Canyon Road is approximately 17km east of Vernon Highway 6. There is parking along Noble Canyon Road before the cattleguard at 1km but ATVs must be unloaded beyond the cattleguard. This is a residential road so don’t block any driveways and keep the noise down. There are parking spots further along Noble Canyon Road up to and just past the 3km mark. There is a steep switchback just past 3km which may not be passable in snowy conditions with a trailer in tow.

Becker Lake side – the road is plowed all the way to Becker Lake because of logging (watch for industrial vehicle traffic, especially on weekdays). Packed trails extend off in every direction from the plowed road with lots of ATV traffic evident providing great riding conditions and access to most of the riding area.

Bardolph Lake side – the road isn’t plowed but lots of ATV traffic has a main trail well packed all the way to the Village of Lumby.

Winter Riding Tips

Low temperatures and the increased risk of getting stuck means it’s extra important you’re prepared when winter ATV riding. Some things to remember before heading out for a fun winter ride:

• Let someone know where you’re going and when you expect to be back (use a tool like the AdventureSmart website or app to share your ride plans).
• Always ride with someone else, safety in numbers!
• Go prepared for winter conditions, dress warmly in layers and take extra clothing.
• Take extra food and drink in case you are out longer than intended.
• Take retrieval equipment including a shovel, tow strap and make sure your vehicle’s winch is working.
• Pack winter emergency gear including: extra warm clothes and gloves/mitts, a sleeping bag or space blankets, matches and candles and a signalling device.

Four riders came out for the Saturday Night ride at Noble Canyon under much improved conditions compared to the Friday night ride. The rain let up about an hour before the ride and the skies cleared throughout the evening. All the recent rain made for heavy, well-packed trails and thanks to all the use the trails have seen the riding was easy so long as you stayed in the tracks.

There is logging on the Becker Lake side so the road is plowed all the way to the lake and there is a ton of ATV traffic with trails blazed in all over the western side of Noble Canyon.

The Bardolph Lake side isn’t plowed but is still seeing a lot of ATV traffic with trails rideable all the way down to Lumby.

Noble Canyon should be your destination if you’d like to get out to do some trail riding over the Christmas holidays.

It was raining at staging, only 2 riders and neither one was too keen on riding in the rain but they knew it would turn to snow eventually.

Headed up West Brewer first but couldn’t continue beyond the end of the plowed road. Went back and went up King Eddy and made it to 8.5km (1300m elevation) before it was too much of a slog to continue.

It rained up to about 6.5km (1100m elevation) then the snow started to accumulate. There was about 30cm of fresh snow on top of another 15cm of soft snow. If you stopped on a steep slope you had to back up to less slope to get going again.

Lots of fun riding on the slush on the plowed road, felt like a rally racer around every corner.

We should (***should***) be able to make it to Becker Lake on the Saturday ride because Becker Lake is at 1200m and there aren’t too many steep pitches on Becker main.

See you at Noble Canyon Saturday at 5:00pm!