Mt Benson summit

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Kale's picture

Kale Murray
Nanaimo
Mt Benson summit

Anybody know if there is a way to get up near the top of Mt Benson anymore? Thinking of doing some exploring tomorrow.

BeRadical's picture

BeRad
duncan

Well just cheched out google maps, and street view. Theres a gate. And its probably dug up.. Little web wheeling shows the road is open all the way up, out of curiosity whats up there?

Kale's picture

Kale Murray
Nanaimo

Ya just getting around that gate! I'm gonna head up there today see what I can see, I'll let ya know. I've heard of people heading up there during working bush hours but you can get locked in.

BeRadical's picture

BeRad
duncan

still doesn't tell me whats up there?

BeRadical's picture

BeRad
duncan

on maps satelite it looks like there are some good rock faces and a few buildings up there, probably a good idea to look into who owns the land up there these days

Kale's picture

Kale Murray
Nanaimo

I've never been up there, theres a great view so I've been told!

BeRadical's picture

BeRad
duncan

sweet

BeRadical's picture

BeRad
duncan

seams to me that the same trail may go to lucid lake, check local gurus posts, that's his territory and he knows his trails.
my mistake different main line entirely

Kale's picture

Kale Murray
Nanaimo

K I'll check into it

Kale's picture

Kale Murray
Nanaimo

I do believe the gate you first specified is the right one, I was talking to a few guys on the trail. But no luck finding a way around the gate cause a cop was parked right in front. Tomorrow is a new day!

Fatty's picture

Fatty
Nanaimo

That gate in that picture is the wrong one.....head up the road and turn right.

all should know thats there is commercial activity on top of benson. shaw and telus both have huge ass generator stations and antenna relays. they spent millions. they also look after the road. lots of fences and 2 gates now. but thanks to all the nanaimo guys that keep cutting them out. kudos!!!! i say its all our resource and they are the ones disturbing the peace with those huge generators running 24/7. anybody know why cops were hanging around benson? we dont post runs that trespass property that others spent millions on. i posted a run last week to show everyone the route. and benson aint the best view. old man gogo owns that one. and hes spend millions too. mt hayes in cassidy, for being low has great views too and a 2 wheel drive will get u there. benon is high enough that u might just make it above the clouds.

if u want to know the trails u have to come on trail runs. everything changes. thats why we scout. as to keep us rolling. try turning 5 trucks around every few minutes. for me to take gps coordinates and make maps for everyone. it would be a full time job.

nanaimo just has way more to offer in the woods then cowichan. theres wheeling in the city limits. lots of it. access to the end of lake cow is the same from nanaimo as from duncan. nanaimo lakes is the actual hub of the south island. mt de cosmos!!! if u get it. most of cowichan valley is bought up. u r trespassing on private lands and people call the cops. not enough roads to the woods means a cop can be waiting for u as u leave. it happens every day. they hand out inspection notices now as well as tickets.

BeRadical's picture

BeRad
duncan

this is what I mean by get to know where you are going, and being informed. you do not want to heat out a place by causing a ruckus or making your route known to yuppy scum. and promoting a trail into places with infrastructure is inviting idiots to cause problems. this is one reason why I appreciate this group of guys for their experience and yes dodging inspections is a way of life for some here and there, you have to become schooled in the ways through that too.
any who enough late night ramblings

theres a trail run we are doing sunday feb 23 through most of the good local stuff. check trail runs. the road up top of benson is not for the faint of heart.

if u know the trails u wont get locked behind the gates. they are working at the foot of benson on the backside. they kept shooing us away on work days. im sure thats why a cops up there hanging. we do have a deal with all the loggers. come friday 4pm its the publics turn. they have to lock the gates behind them. legal reasons.

trail runs are to share the routes. theres 3 ways into benson from the south end.

whats up benson

if it snows by sunday im out.

Greg S's picture

Greg Sutfin
Duncan

[ Localguru said]...lots of fences and 2 gates now. but thanks to all the nanaimo guys that keep cutting them out. kudos!!!! i say its all our resource and they are the ones disturbing the peace...{end quote}

? You do know that you are talking about private land. Right? It is privately owned, titled and deeded. If they want to put a gate on their own road or allow a renter to put a gate on a road to the tenants property, they can do that. Geez! You ought to see how wild my wife gets if she sees somebody on our place if they haven't come to the door and got permission. She just about ripped the heads off some surveyors on our property a few years ago. They (the surveyors) are legally allowed to be there by the way, some part of the survey act allowing access to private land for survey work. John Q Public isn't allowed to be breaking through gates to private property, rented out or otherwise. The loggers and logging companies are (should be) high on our friend list. A good part of the time they ALLOW us to use their land to drive on and enjoy. They also make roads for us to get back there. They also leave trails to challenge our skills and our vehicles abilities. How do we say thanks! and repay them? It seems some do it by ripping out a gate when it shows up. Others repay by trashing and stealing logging equipment. Others by "mud bogging" which puts the land owner in the position of getting a $100,000 fine for allowing it. You did know that mud bogging opens you to a fine of $100,000 didn't you? Makes us look like a bunch of vandals when really, what we should be doing is picking up trash, reporting people who dump trash, damage private property, cut down trees etc.

(Rant off.)

BeRadical's picture

BeRad
duncan

ya local guru isn't around here cause some shit. as far as your rant goes. were a group of respectable and respective people who seek adventure.
A man once said that adventure was the respective pursuit of trouble.
we (this group) embody this to a T

although we may stray from the road more traveled we never intending on destruction or environmental damage as a mechanism of our adventure. we often pick up others garbage left behind, never leave any garbage of our own. we never bog in un-spoiled swamp or cut trees for the hell of it. not because we are afraid of liability but because all of us simply have an appreciation for nature and wish to preserve it for the next time we go out or the next crew to travel our path (when I say this i mean there must be a purpose severe enough to force us in such a situation to contravene our own edicts, like were on our last 1/4 tank and were not getting out the way we came in.)

I have been in a few situations as a young man, I got stuck behind three gates to get out of the slag piles this one time, cause i came down sicker and couldn't get back up what i went down and we were expecting the gates to be open cause they are never closed. had to back my B2 down into the ditch nose the front over and come along it out to get around one. and this is why I have built my rig to get out of any thing, I will never get stuck cause I can go around. without destruction.

Greg S's picture

Greg Sutfin
Duncan

I was out west of Lake Cowichan this weekend. Nice area and some of it new to me. I was really disappointed to see a couple of 24"+ trees felled into Tuck Lake right at the boat ramp. What an F'n waste. No chance of using them for anything except collecting fishing lures. Somebody from Forestry stamped the stumps (I don't know why.) and thoughtfully attached a laminated note detailing the large fines and jail time available for vandalism like that. Specifically, cutting trees without a permit.

Pity that the "faller" will probably never be back there and will never see the note. I brought home a bunch of their trash but couldn't get the big bag of it thrown into the lake and hung up on some branches of said tree. The Big A&& tarp was way to heavy, full of water and big for me to get it into the back of my little truck by myself.

Rmott2's picture

Ryan
Nanaimo

As soon as the snow melts, I want to go to the top of benson. Is anyone would be willing to show me the way it would be greatly appreciated. I have tried to find it but haven't been able to. I know a few ways around the gate but haven't been able to find the way up.if anyone is interested in going please let me know.

Fatty's picture

Fatty
Nanaimo

I would be into that

Beer-n-Meat's picture

Beer-n-Meat
Nanaimo

Ya I'd join you too, it's pretty easy getting to the top but the road after the upper gate is all blast rock....terrible on the tires.

theislandnut's picture

Sean Knight
Nanaimo

...

aaol1's picture
Moderator

sam
Victoria

that looks super sick! nice pic :)

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