One of the most rewarding “backroads rides” is a 25 km route from McQueen Lake to the paved area near the cattle guard in Batchelor Hills   The whole route is on double tracks, some active backroads and some old, seldom-used tracks.   Making all the right turns isn’t easy, but a GPS track can be downloaded (at the bottom of this post).   The route is suitable for mountain bikes or hiking, but it goes through a prescribed non-motorized area, so motorcycles and ATVs should not follow the track (please).   Start at the parking area on the Lac du Bois Road right before the start of the McQueen Lake property.

The route follows the Lac du Bois Road, the Isobel Lake Forest Service Road, a side road down to a junction with the Dairy Lake Road, then a section over to the McQueen Creek Road, and a seldom-used grassy track past a series of ponds.   The grasslands rise above the McQueen Creek area near the Grasslands Community Trail.

The upper grasslands are quiet, except for a few ducks, geese, killdeer, meadowlarks, crows, bluebirds, and the occasional deer.   Our route passed by a number of ponds.

A chain of 4 ponds and lakes leads to Long Lake.

Long Lake is 1.5 km long with a good double track on the east side.

We climbed a good double track away from the chain of lakes into the hills to link with the McQueen Creek – Long Lake Forest Service Road in the Batchelor Hills.   We followed the road downhill to the ATV area and beyond to the parking area.

In the spring, the spring beauties and the arrow-leafed balsam root were in bloom.   The ponds and lakes were full of waterfowl and the hills were quiet.   There were no technical single-tracks, but there are 4 ecological zones to ride through, passing through unobtrusively, leaving nothing but faint tracks from our tires.

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