Close one yesterday

Crazy how early it gets dark these days - started a shuttle lap at 3pm on sunday and as soon as we got under tree cover it was not too far from pitch black! Thankfully we were riding trails that I've ridden many times so no issues finding the route. Always carrying a flashlight and a space blanket in my pack at this time of year too, and a fully charged cell phone.

The trails in there can be a warren. I learned this last year (fortunately on familiar trails) trying to squeeze a ride in after the kids soccer game. Gets darker a lot earlier in the woods. Now I always carry a light if even slightly close to dusk during the winter.

I think someone else mentioned it, but MEC has little ziploc baggies for your phone (they are thicker than a normal ziploc) that help with the wet / rain.

Yup, I always carry a space blanket in my pack and one in the kid's pack too. Finally learned to pack a spare light just in case. The most important piece of emergency gear I carry is a small roll of toilet paper.

All great advice up above. I have reconsidered what I carry in my pack and am going to include a number of the items mentioned from now on.

The kid was, remarkably, just fine. He was having a great time in the woods on his squishy bike. Great ride up the climbing trails and a super fun rip down Forever After.

The stress was mostly mine. At the end we were cold, yes, but the worst part of the ordeal was my stress that came from knowing that if I didn't figure the way out of the forest quickly that things would get worse for the three of us (him, the dog and myself) in the very near future.

Many good lessons were learned, and when you consider that we got out unscathed and really just cold and wet, we learned them the easy way.

Glad it worked out, things can get scary fast. If you don't have one, look at the Lifeproof cases for iPhones, I find they work a lot better in rain than the bare phone (you still have to shield it so if it's torrential the phone will be hard to operate).

I find the Catalyst ones are just as waterproof but offer a more impact protection than the Lifeproof. This is marginally more bulky but given the likelihood of impacts while riding I think it's reasonable. Options are good.

https://www.catalystlifestyle.com/collections/iphone6

https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5050-243/Waterproof-E-Case
This is the nice waterproof pouch that mec sells.
It works really good.

I could see how you could get lost in that zone. Try to explain to someone from out of town how to get from Hyannis to GSM! I wonder what some solid signage would cost? Maybe even some cheap plastic one 10 ft into trail heads to curb confusion at intersections. Maybe CMHC would pay for it? GoFundMe for signage? Or just leave it..Meh. Trailforks works pretty great for most of us I guess

I could see how you could get lost in that zone. Try to explain to someone from out of town how to get from Hyannis to GSM! I wonder what some solid signage would cost? Maybe even some cheap plastic one 10 ft into trail heads to curb confusion at intersections. Maybe CMHC would pay for it? GoFundMe for signage? Or just leave it..Meh. Trailforks works pretty great for most of us I guess

It needs better signage. Talking to RSTBC about it

This is what happens when a trail leads to nowhere.

Glad it worked out. Ddean

Old fart. The UBC story is funny (Only because everything worked out) And I can relate a bit…..I remember riding there as a teen to get some secret training for bike racing….the only place to find faster trails in the 80 s….(You can t just ride old buck then down severed dick….ha ha…) Basically my blt light stopped working the moment I hit a bigger bump….After that I was riding at a snails pace to make my way out…..So dark out in the UBC trails….I knew s it about life at the time so I thought every animal and skate punks with mohawks were out to get me.

Oh yeah Mike. I remember a solo night ride where a electrical connection failed and my light went out. No backup. Black as the Ace of Spades. My onlyguide was looking straight up where I could see some sky as it was lighter black. Tripped and stumbled for a while before I reached Imperial which is more open and I could actually ride slowly. Good times. The real risk in those woods are the weirdos. I know a guy who was about two sixty and six four. He got attacked by a nutbar with a two by four.

Oh yeah Mike. I remember a solo night ride where a electrical connection failed and my light went out. No backup. Black as the Ace of Spades. My onlyguide was looking straight up where I could see some sky as it was lighter black. Tripped and stumbled for a while before I reached Imperial which is more open and I could actually ride slowly. Good times. The real risk in those woods are the weirdos. I know a guy who was about two sixty and six four. He got attacked by a nutbar with a two by four.

Now this is gettin juicy. Do tell about the nutbar.
Was running up in Lynn Headwaters near Norvan a couple years back. Was fall, raining pretty hard on way back this hermit came out of nowhere and started following me running for 100 yards. I had my dog with me, turned around picked up a stick and said I was going to crush his head in. My coonhound got all aggressive went nuts and he ran off. Fucking bizarre.
Whenever I see someone running up there alone with earbuds in I just shake my head. I heard the guy come crashing out of the bush behind me plus my dog set off an alarm.
Reported it to police.

Good to hear things didn't get to bad. I've gone threw that same experience and it sucked.
I always make sure my phone is fully charged, double ziplock my phone for extra protection, bring extra things to eat and drink so you dont run out of energy, 20$ for emergenc.
I put an extra layer in my camelback during this time of year, going from being hot and sweaty to cold can be pretty serious.
Our local mountains become a whole different ballgame once the weather gets cold like this.

Now this is gettin juicy. Do tell about the nutbar.
Was running up in Lynn Headwaters near Norvan a couple years back. Was fall, raining pretty hard on way back this hermit came out of nowhere and started following me running for 100 yards. I had my dog with me, turned around picked up a stick and said I was going to crush his head in. My coonhound got all aggressive went nuts and he ran off. Fucking bizarre.
Whenever I see someone running up there alone with earbuds in I just shake my head. I heard the guy come crashing out of the bush behind me plus my dog set off an alarm.
Reported it to police.

I hate having experience's like this. I've had to defend myself in pretty bad altercations in the past.