Part 3: Braid Station

This is the third and last in the series of rides from New Westminster SkyTrain stations, this time featuring the mythical Braid Station on the western edge of town, bordering Burnaby and Coquitlam.

As you exit the station, make a U-turn to go to the north side of the bus loop. Look for the crosswalk leading to a little path on the right side. Here you have a choice:

  • if going to Hume Park/Cariboo/Burnaby Mountain Urban Trail, go left along the fence and across the tracks and follow the trail
  • if heading to the Braid industrial area/Sapperton Landing or United Boulevard/PoCo Trail, take a right and go around and under Brunette arching overhead

Tip/warning: some parts of these rides can be a little sketchy in terms of safety/connectedness of bike infrastructure and disruptions due to construction (currently Trans Mountain Pipeline in Burnaby and Coquitlam). Do what you need to do to stay safe and ride for your own comfort and skill level.

Cariboo/Burnaby Mountain Urban Trail (BMUT)

Length: 11 km or more

Terrain: ups and downs with plateaus in between

Though it could not start in a more industrial place between an Amazon warehouse and an overpass, this is one of my favourite rides for greenery. After climbing up the hill to Hume Park, I say hello to the doggies in the dog park, then plunge back down the steep hill towards the exit and crossing at North Road. Follow the shared path across the little bridge and then turn right again into the gravel path that takes you on a cool, shady ride along the Brunette River.

Between the sound of the river, the crunch of gravel and leaves under the wheels and the roar of traffic from the highway above, I feel hidden away down there. At the other end, the path spits you out onto road near an RV Park. At Cariboo Road, turn right, or cross over to make a quick visit to Burnaby Lake (bikes aren’t allowed in the trails there, but you can walk, or just make a quick stop to check out the turtle beach at the eastern end and say hi to the ducks and birds).

At Cariboo and Government, you have a choice:

  • Go right and down the path a little way to get onto the Burnaby Mountain Urban Trail (as of summer 2023, the road is blocked for Trans Mountain construction, but bike path is [mostly] open).
  • Go left and bike a short, steep distance up Brighton to cross Lougheed Highway (be very careful of Costco traffic here). I call this second option “the Dageraad detour” as it brings you closer to stopping at one of Burnaby’s finest craft breweries.

In any case, follow the BMUT signs (and watch for more construction detours) along Production Way, Eastlake, Underhill and Broadway, turning right at Arden Drive for a shady, tree- and berry bush-lined path around the golf course. For a little more gravel, there’s a path parallel to the paved one for the length of the golf course.

Somewhere along the line, the BMUT intersects with the Frances-Union bikeway, which you can follow into Burnaby Heights (feast at Cioffis or Peaked Pies, anyone?) and on to Vancouver, or the Trans Canada Trail either up Burnaby Mountain (steep) or through Confederation Park and to the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge and beyond. Or make your way back to Production Way SkyTrain Station, now a little easier going downhill!

Brunette-Fraser Greenway/Sapperton Landing via Braid industrial area

Length: 4 km

Terrain: flat

This is a nice, short “beer ride” to Sapperton Landing, a park it seems like no one knows about (and that’s just fine). The first part of the ride goes through an industrial area with its share of truck traffic, but the road is wide and at least tries to mark itself as a bike route with lil’ sharrows, so it’s not too bad. Weekdays at 4 or 5 p.m. seem to be a great time to get nearly clipped by guys who drive cars with mix-and-match body panels held together with duct tape, and are trying to get out of there as fast as they can, but weekends are much quieter.

After you leave Braid Station, cross under Brunette and follow the green path over many railroad tracks and cross at the light at Canfor, the first stop is usually at bike-friendly Another Beer Co., either for a pint of what they’re pouring or for a quartet of tall cans for a hobo party further on by the river. If you’re lucky, the Industry Arcade next door might be open for pinball and vintage videogames. If not, carry on around the corner to check out 911 Film Cars, where you can see a changing assortment of antique buses, police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, etc. rented to film productions. Go right again at the next corner and look to your left to find the Brunette-Fraser Greenway path toward Sapperton Landing.

A short way down the path, you’ll come to the Sapperton Pump Station and Sapperton Landing Park, which has two paths through the park and along the river. Bikes are technically not allowed on the gravel riverfront path, only on the paved one … but you can still access the riverfront benches by crossing over further on. I love this park for its scenery: the Fraser River, Golden Ears to the east, trains and the Pattullo Bridge to the west (and currently construction of the new bridge), tugboats and little islands and birds everywhere—even eagles! Not a ton of people come here, but the ones that do are often walking cute dogs.

Unfortunately, the path doesn’t go very far. Signs prohibit you from continuing onto the busy, narrow Front Street—and I would advise obeying them and turning around here. If you do want to continue the ride (and not just backtrack to Braid), go back out to the park entrance, go left and over the tracks (assuming a train is not on them, duh), and take a short little switchback up to the pedestrian/bike crosswalk at Columbia. You can then go right to go back into Sapperton or left to follow the Central Valley Greenway through Victoria Hill and into Downtown New West.

Miranda Priestly voice: “That’s all.”

(For now … when Trans Mountain Construction is complete and the route is less sketchy, I’ll look at adding a United Boulevard-Colony Farms-Traboulay PoCo Trail ride, because that’s one of my favourite longer ones!)

Map

View these two routes on Google maps:

Miranda Priestly voice: “That’s all.”

(For now … when Trans Mountain Construction is complete and the route is less sketchy, I’ll look at adding a United Boulevard/Colony Farms/Traboulay PoCo Trail ride, because that’s one of my favourite longer ones!)

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