Courtesy of Pete & Natalie's page....

Burnt Bridge: the area is known to mountain bikers as Burnt Bridge but you won't find that on a map. The nearest reference is probably Kokisalah Park. It is about 50 minutes from Victoria and is a very nice area for a day outing.

Directions: Take the #1 towards Naniamo. Just before the highest point on the Malahat Pass, shortly past the Malahat Petro Canada (about 27km out of town), you will see a sign for South End Shawnigan Lake 800m. Turn left onto Shawnigan Lake Road. After about 6-7 km there will be a very obvious left or straight choice, take the left turn towards Camp Pringle and Shawnigan Lake Park. This will take you along the west shore of Shawnigan Lake on West Shawnigan Lake Road (make sure that you aren't turning onto Sooke Lake Road). Continue until it ends at a dead end/stop sign at Renfrew Road. Turn left and follow Renfrew Road until it turns to gravel (2 km) and then (2 km) further until it ends up at the park. If you see a big yellow gate and a bridge, you are in the right spot. Park, say hello to the red-necks and cross the bridge.

Things get a bit tricky in terms of trail finding, the area is fairly large and its possible to ride for a few days in any given direction and never see another human. Might be best to have a guide with you. If you are down low on the hills avoid the urge to take the singletrack, most of it goes straight up. Better to take the fire roads up high into the hills (be sure to stop and enjoy the "tree free" views afforded by the numerous clearcuts) then after you have had enough climbing look for some singletrack down. The area has some great riding but without a guide you will miss most of it. It is still worth a trip up there just to fool around on the fire roads then jump off the bridge (the water is deep enough).

Area reps needed E-mail SIMBS if you can help out.