Sawmill Creek Patchwork

Location: Albion/Lester to South Keys
www.strava.com/segments/27273458
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There's an amazing system of Greenbelt Trails in Pine Grove Forest, which is more or less located in a large area between Ramsayville Road and Albion Road. 

Getting to and from these trails can be a chore, however, especially the idea of riding down Albion Road or Ramsayville to get to the trailheads on your off-road bike. This is at least one solution to that problem. We also detail this in the route for Howie's Roubaix. 

The basic gist of this is that there is a pathway system that follows Sawmill Creek between South Keys and Albion/Lester. It's not immediately obvious that it's there and per the name it's a patchwork of paved paths, gravel, and hard-packed dirt. It crosses over several roads as well, so this is really about connecting to various pathway systems as a means to building out a longer ride. Don't get me wrong, there's a couple of nice parts of this system with gravel paths along the creek, but for me it's strictly utilitarian and kind of bonus off-road riding, rather than a destination unto itself.

Speaking of which, here are some notes from the turn-by-turn description we did for Howie's Roubaix, taking you on the segment heading north from the Pine Grove Trail to South Keys: 

• From Albion head north, right onto Lester, left into Aladdin Lane. Go maybe 100m and look for an opening on the right onto a bike path. It's kind of on top of a speed bump if you need a landmark. So, turn right onto the bike path and immediately left to head north through a little park and then back east across Stedman St. and continue onto the pathway. Follow the path north-east for about 300-500m. Take it slow as a lot of people live around here, the path is a bit dark at the best of times and you need to keep an eye open for a sharp left that takes you down a deep dip and up onto a dirt path that runs between two rows of houses for about 200m. 
• At this point, once you hit Queensdale (first street you cross after the dirt path) you link up with the Sawmill Creek Pathway system. I won't go into anymore details on this other than to say you cross a lot of streets along the pathway system, hop a lot of curbs and after Albion you wind up passing the Duck Pond near Bridle Path at which point you want to aim for the path that ends atop a parking garage. Go up and over and down onto the street at the bottom.
• Head to Bridle Path and the intersection at Hunt Club. Cross at the lights and find your way down to the South Keys Transitway across the Cineplex parking lot. Pass through the tunnel (or whatever you call it) and out the other side and back into the Sawmill Creek Pathway System

I've ridden this path system a handful of times and have connected through McCarthy Woods and Revelstoke (A Coyote Ate My Baby segment) heading in either direction, so that's certainly an option to look into if the bike path back downtown doesn't inspire you.