The opening of Pye Mountain Recreation Site April 16 hit home how lucky we are to live in this area.
The opening of the site capped off a three-year process of creating an ATV trail system and facilities to accommodate ATV users. The site is located just north of Roberts Lake, about five kilometres off Highway 19. It’s the culmination of Campbell River ATV Club members’ persistence and vision and the B.C. Forest Service’s Recreation Sites and Trails BC (RSATBC) mandate to develop and manage recreation opportunities. Besides funding from RSATBC, it’s also the beneficiary of a grant from the National Trails Coalition for a total of $150,000.
The result is a recreation facility that will serve local and Island ATV enthusiasts as well as draw “ATV tourists” to Campbell River.
Now, ATV use is not a benign recreation activity. It has an impact on the land and works best when it is not in conflict with other, less mechanical land users. Pye Mountain has long been a popular ATV site and this new development formalizes what people have been doing there for years.
The new facility has a four-kilometre trail system along with a 24-space camping area complete with custom-made picnic tables, outhouses, fire pits and picnic shelters.
But the underlying message behind this project is that we are lucky to have so much space that we can accommodate a specialized recreation activity without conflict with others.
Just like mountain bikers have found areas in the region for their sports, ATV’ers now have their own area to enjoy their sport. A few years back, horse trail riders completed a trail and recreation site facility at Brewster Lake that is the terminus of a Sayward to Campbell River riding trail.
What a great region we live in and how fortunate we are to have all this wonderful forest land to use. ATV’ers have their space to enjoy and introduce others to their activity, all to the benefit of the community as a whole.
With a designated area, conflict over use is diminished and we can be thankful for how rich in land we are in this area.