Checking out the Mountain Bike Trails at Mount Tzouhalem near Maple Bay, BC

 
By Keith and Heather Nicol

We were heading to Victoria for a university reunion on Sunday, Sept 29 and were traveling from the Comox Valley on Saturday.  Enroute we decided to break up the trip with a couple of stops to check out some mountain bike trails that we had heard good things about. First up were the trails at Mount Tzouhalem which is near the community of Maple Bay and the larger community of Duncan. There are a few mountain bike areas in this general region but the larger seems to be Mount Tzouhalem with about 70 trails. We had heard that Double D and Bumblebee were worth checking out and so parked at the lower parking area just off of Navilene Drive. There is parking for a number of cars and a large map and washroom here as well.

                         There are some nice views of the ocean and off shore islands from parts of the trail system 

The main climbing trail from what we could determine was A Grand Traverse or AGT for short.
I found it quite steep in places and often had to get off and push my bike up some sections. It really made me appreciate the well designed climbing trail – Sobo No Michi – at Cumberland which has dozens of switchbacks to cut the grade and is relatively easy to ride up.  AGT finally lead to Tzouhalem Main (presumably an old logging road) which then gave access to Double D. This is one of the most highly rated trails at Tzouhalem and is about 2 km long. It certainly is a nice flow trail and I really liked going through the more open forest than we have at Cumberland. From there I headed back to the start of Bumblebee (another highly rated trail) which is about 1 km long and again has a nice flow to it. Both of these trails are rated blue which suited me just fine. Bumblebee ends very close to the parking area at Navilene Drive. So check this area out if you are in the area . We will certainly be back. While I biked Heather hiked and there are certainly some nice hiking areas in this same area. Make sure you download the Trailforks app before you go since many of the trails here are not marked that well. It made me really appreciate the trail markings etc at Cumberland with names and finger boards at all intersections. For more information on Trailforks see: https://www.trailforks.com/  See you on the trail.

                         I liked the flow trail Bumblebee seen here and its more open forest than we have at Cumberland