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Lac du Bois Tranquility Gravel - Bikepacking BC's grasslands · Fri. May. 16th, 2025 - Tue. May. 20th, 2025
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Start: Friday, May. 16th, 2:00 pm
End: Tuesday, May. 20th, 8:00 pm
Pre-trip meeting: Tuesday, May. 6th, 8:00 pm
Pre-trip meeting location: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/89426150440?pwd=Z6uCKHlS137Y2EBeTpZhgMWp5tqfOw.1
Description:
The Kamloops area is home to one of the finest off-road bikepacking loops in BC: The Lac du Bois Tranquility loop. It starts and ends near Kamloops, and winds through the protected grasslands of Lac du Bois Park before reaching the Tranquille Plateau. There are several beautiful lakes along the way and even more hills to climb. The full loop is about 200km and has a few places to camp and natural sources of water. I think 3 days is a good pace but I’d be good to take it slow too and add an extra day.
The loop is almost entirely (92%) on dirt road and there are lots of hills to climb, some being steep. As such this is not a beginner-friendly trip, previous bkepacking experience is required as well as the ability to handle days over 60km on unpaved roads.
See this page for more details and cool pictures: https://bikepacking.com/routes/lac-du-bois-tranquility/
Plan:
Leave Vancouver on Friday in the afternoon and drive to Kamloops. It takes 4 to 5 hours to get there. Leaving Saturday early morning is also a possibility.
Ride 60 to 80km on each day Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
On Tuesday we can finish the loop if we take it easy the previous days. There’s also a hike that I want to do in the area (Mara Hill) that features cliffs and hoodoos so if time allows it that’d be a cool thing to do (other suggestions are welcome!). Then drive back home.
Logistics:
The challenging part is getting a car that can fit the bikes… I’m thinking of renting a minivan which should fit 4 bikes and their riders as long as the wheels are off. In terms of weather, this should be the ideal window for this part of BC: just before it gets super hot and well after winter, so it should be sunny days with 15 to 20deg but occasional rain is still a possibility. The pre-trip meeting will be held a bit earlier than usual as some people might have to get days off, so the goal here is to confirm the list of participants sonner than later.
Note: if people can't make themselves available on Tuesday we can totally come back Monday evening. In that case we'll definitely leave Friday after work/school and sleep near Kamloops or on the way there.
Pre-requisite:
The gear listed below
Experience with bikepacking and camping in the backcountry (it’s fine if you haven’t done tens of trips, but you should know your capabilities and have a setup that you like)
Ability to ride at least 60km on unpaved road (those will be easy roads, probably equivalent to 90km on paved roads in terms of energy spent)
Gear:
Appropriate bike: gravel bike obviously is best here but other types would work too as long as the tires can handle the road, the other thing to have is fairly low gear to handle the climbs. It’s almost certain we’ll have to walk the bikes here and there but the goal is not to have to do it everytime the trail goes up!
Proper tires: anything below 35mm is a bit light for those roads i would say
Bikepacking gear (incl. sleeping and cooking systems): you should know what setup works for you. Some of the gear is available from the club. we can also share some stuff if needed
Repair kit (flat repair kit, extra tubes, basic tools)
Feel free to reach out if you have questions!
Posted: 2025-01-04 18:45:51
Last modified: 2025-04-15 07:44:26