Sunshine Coast Run

Comments:

Sunshine Coast::   Horsehoe Bay to Powell River via two ferries (one way).   Presumably "Sunshine Coast" is  named due to the power of positive thinking rather than observed weather patterns.  A clear blue sky in Vancouver isn't always enough to avoid rain on the trip (!).   The route is well known but somewhat congested and of course has those dratted ferries.  Infrequent ferries at Earls Cove means you can easily spend more time stopped than riding unless you "clock watch".   A good biking road that requires an accurate timepiece is an oxymoron IMHO.

In any case, we always ride out to Port Mellon since it is a nice road and take our time to Earls Cove.  This often means perusing a number of side routes (all fairly short).   Ones we like are:

    Porpoise Bay Road along Sechelt Inlet until it dead-ends.  Twisty and low traffic counts.  Nice beach at the end.

    Sargeant Bay / Halfmoon Bay Bypass   (I forget the road name so you'll have to watch for it.  It's about 5 km out of Sechelt.)   Twisty sections, ocean side route.  We prefer it over the main highway.

    Garden Bay Road.    Pleasant ride around some lakes and down to the ocean.

    Egmont Road.   A short but decent run out to Egmont.  Usually reserved if we've mistimed the ferry and have some time to kill.

Day trips from Vancouver essentially require a turnaround at Earls Cove (or Egmont) and a return to Horsehoe Bay.    A surprisingly nice change from the standard Vancouver runs.  Just be sure to avoid the peaks in the ferry traffic and take time to explore the side roads.

I suppose one could do the loop and return via Nanaimo in a day but we haven't tried it...seems like a long day chasing ferries (four are needed).  In any case, the road from Saltery Bay to Powell River is very good and worth the ferry ride.  We have taken the road from Powell River to Lund...but only once.  We've never found a reason to stop in Powell River preferring to stay overnight on the Island as part of a multi-day ride.

Map (Click on map for full size):

Pictures (click here for pictures related to this run):