Mt Arrowsmith / Mt Cokely

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Shane
Alberni Valley
Mt Arrowsmith / Mt Cokely

Doing some exploring of the valley the other day and decided to check out the Mount Arrowsmith / Mount Cokely region. Very easy logging road access for the most part but some really amazing views and also a couple of nice lakes. After getting home and looking at the GPS route on Google earth there are a couple spots I want to go back and explore further. I'll update this thread with whatever I find.

Also we found this one spot with these hilarious little birds that had absolutely no fear. Right when we pulled up they swooped in and one landed on my gfs head almost immediately. We held out our hands and they came and landed on us almost as if on command, it was pretty cool.

On to some pics, and updates to come!

GPS file (Google Earth): 
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Brent Briscoe
NANAIMO

Great pics i was a little concerned when i saw you on the ice though.

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Shane
Alberni Valley

That ice was surprisingly thick - pretty sure I could have driven my truck on it (though I wouldn't)!

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Nanaimo

Great pics, It's been a little while since I've been out that way. I covered pretty much everything interesting from the Nanaimo side (Englishman ML) this year. Girlfriend and I are planning to head out towards Nahmint Lake again soon, you're welcome to join us!

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Shane
Alberni Valley

Ah Nahmint is sweet, in fact I know a really good hidden hike in camp spot there. Message me when you're heading that way and we'll meet up!

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Solarisphere
Victoria

Great photos! I've never been up past the Arrowsmith trailhead but it looks like there's lots to see up there. The birds are Whiskey-Jack's btw. They're so used to people feeding them that they expect it at this point.

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Shane
Alberni Valley

Alright so apparently we missed the money spot our first trip up. Headed back up on the weekend and found this gnarly truck trail that goes way up the mountain ridge and gets some major elevation. This is the highest trail I've found on the Island so far and gets you right into the alpine layer. The trail is steep and loose and I didn't make it all the way to the top because it was icy as hell but I believe it's fully doable in dry/warm weather. This is now top of my list for high elevation camping once the warmer weather returns. It was a cloudy day so visibility was limited, but hey, we were above the clouds so who cares! Here are some pics.

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Jonathan
Victoria

That looks wicked. Would it be stock friendly without the ice?

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Shane
Alberni Valley

Definitely not. It's a rough trail and even in good conditions would be difficult without lockers and tires.

*edit - to be clear, the first set of pictures and gps route are all stock friendly - the second set of pictures with the higher eleveation and loose rock trail is not.

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Solarisphere
Victoria

Is this the road? BRMB shows it makes it up to 1450m but you can't see it at all in the satellite photos. If the weather cooperates I'll be up that way on Sunday with my brother trying to make it to Jewel Lake and we might see how far we can get if we've got time.

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Jonathan
Victoria

I have 31 inch ko2's, 410 gears and a lsd. Still a no go?

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Shane
Alberni Valley

Your marker is right on the top of the trail, but the line to it is not correct - I think that path must be a hiking trail or something. Check out the marker position on Google Earth and you'll see the trail going to it - it comes in from the North, not the West.

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Shane
Alberni Valley

If you're going to try it air down quite a bit - it's not that it's particularly high clearance, it's just really loose blast rock and fairly steep.

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Solarisphere
Victoria

I see it now, thanks. Looks like you were driving up the old Mt. Cokely ski hill; it's just barely visible as a track on the sat photos. We might give it a try but I'm thinking it'll have to wait until summer for a proper exploration.

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Shane
Alberni Valley

Oh that's exactly what it was - I was wondering why forestry would put a road up there above the tree line but the ski hill makes way more sense. I agree summer would be better to get to the top - it's pretty sketchy with the ice right now.

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Brent Briscoe
NANAIMO

Great pics .Did you use that pass 60 road to get to bottom of this ski hill road?

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Brent Briscoe
NANAIMO

Can you drive into Jewel lake cause i dont see any road on maps ?

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Solarisphere
Victoria

Jewel lake is a few hours hike in. Most of the best spots are. The roads are all built for logging so anywhere you can drive to has been clear-cut fairly recently and they rarely go up into the alpine.

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Solarisphere
Victoria

Looks like access is via pass 40. I'm seeing a gate in my paper BRMB but I doubt they lock it much unless there's active logging out that way.

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Seth
Lantzville

Incredible find and pics Shane. Thanks for posting this up. Looks like this is gonna be a good one come summer.

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Solarisphere
Victoria

Got up Arrowsmith this weekend and the road is snowed in by now. Beyond the capabilities of my stock Xterra, but we had some fun flying the drone around and messing about in the snow. There were lots of people up there with quads, kids toboganning, roasting marshmallows, etc. Even saw a sled although I don't think the snow's deep enough for that yet. There was a foot of snow up in the Arrowsmith saddle and maybe 4-6 inches on the roads at the base of the skihill.

We also made it up to Holyoak Lake behind ladysmith

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Shane
Alberni Valley

Wow killer shots!

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Shane
Alberni Valley

Went back up the mountain today - forgot what a nice area it is up there!

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Lance
Ladysmith

Love the new shots! Looks like a good camping area!

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Rob Purcell
Nanaimo

Sweet pics definitely want to do that for the view

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