Seymour trails offer classic highs and lows
North Shore routes have a great mix of rowdy and reasonable sections
Like a big box of chocolates, you never know what you might bite into when you ride the North Shore.
One minute a brilliant sun can be baking the moisture out of the lush and loamy fern-lined singletrack bike trails, while the next a freakin’ monsoon has you searching for an ark.
On a typical overcast North Vancouver morning a few weeks back, it was an early start and the uphill trek began at the Old Buck trailhead.
The Old Buck parking lot at Mount Seymour Road and Anne MacDonald Way is centrally located for mountain bike riders who want to park and head up into a number of moderate to tough climbing routes that feed into more than a dozen worldclass trails superbly built into the rugged slopes of upper and lower Mount Seymour. It is also the spot where riders park to shuttle up the mountain to get into descents such as CBC and Corkscrew.
Nestled into the woods at the bottom of Mount Seymour, the parking lot is a great place to get ready for the ride and talk with other bikers and hikers about things such as trail conditions, bear sightings and, of course, the weather. About five minutes into the climb, thick clouds moved in and a heavy rainstorm began, and we stopped to duck for cover. But when your riding companion is an athletic Labrador retriever, the deluge, especially the overflow- ing creeks, was to be enjoyed, not cursed.
The climb continued up Old Buck through a series of heavily treed sections and switchbacks. Despite the downpour, the forest canopy on Seymour is so thick we really didn’t get wet once we resumed the climb. Metro Vancouver a few years ago did a full upgrade of Old Buck, making it into a much smoother ride, with a couple of steep sections to round out a mostly nondescript, steady switchback-type climb that is 1.8 kilometres in length.
The Old Buck Trail, while a constant grunt, is short and sweet and once you finish the climb it intersects with the famous Baden-Powell Trail.
At that point go left (west) up the Baden-Powell and after about 10 minutes of steady, but not too tough climbing, you come into the first of a series of descents, part of the amazing trail network on Seymour maintained by both the North Shore Mountain Bike Association and Metro Vancouver.
Pangor, a fun-filled mixed bag descent is the first, then about 20 metres up is a much tougher Boogieman, and then another 75 metres up, the Baden-Powell Trail marker points down toward a swampy bog with some nice wood plank sections along the way. Once across the water, it is a short rootfilled climb and the Baden-Powell intersects one of the North Shore originals — Severed Dick.
Given the weather conditions, we selected Severed Dick for the descent, as it always seems to be at its best when the rain has turned the loose and dry track into a thing of firm beauty. Severed is maintained under the associations’s Trail Adoption Program by Different Bikes and NS Ride. Over the years trail builders extraordinaire Martin Newman and Penny Deck — along with a host of other volunteers — have spent countless long hours keeping Severed and the adjoining trails in top shape.
A trail that has been around since the beginning of the sport on the North Shore, Severed on trail maps is rated as an intermediate ride, but be ready as there are some rowdy sections. Because it is lower down Seymour, Severed can often be ridden during the winter months as it has great drainage. It is also a great trail for a night ride.
Severed has had an illustrious history and for years was the trail where Chaz and the boys at Cove Bike Shop ran the wild n’ woolly Hell of the North mountain bike race.
Seymour seems to be in a glorious renaissance these days, and riders now have a number of new trails to spice up the day. The rebuild of Dales further up from Severed leads down to another favourite and well-used trail, Forever After.
About a third of the way down Severed, riders can veer left and try the new and super fun trail, John Deer.
John Deer has some great rock drops and well-built woodwork and is a game-changer on Seymour and, like Severed, it flows out onto the Bridal Path.
The sacred descent on Severed is about 10 minutes. The middle is the steepest and it flows down into a series of drops, bank turns and rolling pump track that leads out to the Bridal Path. Once there if the legs are still strong follow the trail across the bridge into the climbing routes. Penny Lane leads up into Good Sir Martin, which then climbs up to the Baden-Powell, where you once again have a big choice of routes.
If fatigue or time is a factor, take the Bridal Path back to the Empress Bypass and that takes you down to the parking lot.
A big feature with Severed is that it is a great route for a dog as there is no tricky woodwork that could snag a leg.
A classic North Shore ride, no matter how you slice it, Severed Dick on a wet day was truly a cut above the rest.