Upper Outer Inks
The upper trails in the Outer Links Trails climb into the forest on the flanks of Chuwhels Mountain. There are many double and single track trails so it can be confusing at all the intersections, but mountain bikers should just pick the ones most used and then choose to explore. We have ridden, hiked, run, and snowshoed the backroads and tracks many times so we know how to link up a route past lakes and ponds, climbing gradually. On this ride we climbed 476m of elevation on an out-and-back-with-a-loop route over 21km.
Dam Lake is in the middle of the trail network. In spring, before any draw-down, it is full and there were a few ducks dabbling and diving.
Continuing to climb, we swung past a favorite spring spot – Long Pond – higher up on the trails, surrounded by wooded hills.
From Long Pond, all turns that bear southeast head toward Timber Lake. All turns that bear southwest go into the remote forest on the flanks of Chuwhels Mountain. We went that way for this ride ending at a marshy area in the forest before turning back to quickly quickly descend down a series of double tracks back to our trucks.
The Outer Inks Trails can be busy with motorcycles, ATVs and some “testosterone-fuelled” activities on weekends, but it is a quiet area mid-week and off-season, a fine place for hikers and mountain bikers.
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