{"id":7317,"date":"2025-10-05T13:14:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T17:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/?p=7317"},"modified":"2025-10-08T11:04:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T15:04:25","slug":"cycle-big-bend-overnighter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycle: Big Bend CA Overnighter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You can find posts about my 25 km from WTF<\/strong> adventures here<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/em>
or visualize them on this map<\/a>.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needing to have triple cardiac bypass surgery was not originally in my plans for 2024\/2025. But I did have the surgery in February 2025. From that point on, my focus has been recovery and rehab. I agreed to be part of a cardiac rehab study at Western University (DOSE-EX-CAD<\/a>) which took from June to the end of September to complete. To celebrate, I wanted to do an overnight bikepacking trip somewhere nearby. A quick Internet search uncovered the Big Bend Conservation Area<\/a> which was about 50 km away and had campsites available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 1 – 50 km<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With a new Nemo Dragonfly 1p bikepacking tent, I switched up my packing strategy, going with two rear panniers and hanging the tent from the handlebars:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
My Santos Travelmaster bicycle kitted up for the overnight bikepack ride to Big Bend CA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Big Bend is almost directly west of home but the way the roads are laid out around here, I’d have to zig-zag northwest to southeast several times to reach it. I took the opportunity to cycle some roads (like Silver Clay Road) that I’ve not cycled before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
On Silver Clay Road<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I stopped in Dutton for a drink and an energy bar and then crossed over the 401 via Coyle Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Downtown Dutton on a Wednesday Afternoon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Crossing the 401 on Coyle Road<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The area north of the 401 was typically southwestern Ontario farm country. There was a string of disused electrical power towers that crossed my route in several places. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Disused electrical towers – Tales from the Loop vibes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Near the end of the route, I made a route planning error; River Road seemed to be a straight shot across to the CA but a section of the road had eroded badly. Rather than turning around, I chose to hike-a-bike my way up the cliff and continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
My route planning was not so good here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I booked campsite 27 at the CA and it turned out to be a good choice. It was set away from the trailer campsites and it had a nice view west towards the beaver pond. The only downside was the constant dropping of walnuts from the trees: it made finding the right spot for the tent super important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I set up my tent and then cooked some dinner. The light dropped pretty quickly as the sun set so I hopped in the tent around 8:30 PM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Campsite 27 at Big Bend Conservation Area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Sun going down<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Day 2 – 58 km<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

After a good 10 hour sleep, I was up in good time for a classic breakfast of instant oatmeal and coffee. Camp packed up quickly and I started for home. I headed north out of the CA and then west through Wardsville, before heading south and east towards West Lorne. A quick stop at the Time Horton’s there for a coffee was a nice break. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Packing Up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
A coffee at Tim’s in West Lorne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From there. the wind was pretty much in my face all of the way home so I made slow but steady progress and arrived home around 1 PM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summary<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This overnight trip was just what I needed as a small celebration of all the work I’ve put in recovering from the health issues I’ve had the last couple of years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography \/ Videography <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

All photos were taken with my iPhone 15 Pro Max and processed in Lightroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Needing to have triple cardiac bypass surgery was not originally in my plans for 2024\/2025.…<\/p>\n

Read the postCycle: Big Bend CA Overnighter<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":7331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-25km-from-wtf","category-adventures","post_format-post-format-image","excerpt","full-without-featured","even","excerpt-0"],"yoast_head":"\nCycle: Big Bend CA Overnighter - Station Studios<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A post documenting my overnight bikepacking trip to Big Bend Conservation Area and back.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Cycle: Big Bend CA Overnighter - Station Studios\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"A post documenting my overnight bikepacking trip to Big Bend Conservation Area and back.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/tracks_20251002IMG_8397.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@http:\/\/twitter.com\/bjcott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjcott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Barry Cott\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Barry Cott\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/62c7ed75bd972f20f5f83b53bd56e62e\"},\"headline\":\"Cycle: Big Bend CA Overnighter\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-05T17:14:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-08T15:04:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/\"},\"wordCount\":560,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/tracks_20251002IMG_8397.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"25 km from WTF\",\"Adventures\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/\",\"name\":\"Cycle: Big Bend CA Overnighter - Station Studios\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/tracks_20251002IMG_8397.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-05T17:14:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-08T15:04:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/62c7ed75bd972f20f5f83b53bd56e62e\"},\"description\":\"A post documenting my overnight bikepacking trip to Big Bend Conservation Area and back.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/tracks_20251002IMG_8397.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/tracks_20251002IMG_8397.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Just north of Big Bend CA\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cycle: Big Bend CA Overnighter\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Station Studios\",\"description\":\"Photography, Travel, Outdoor Pursuits\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/62c7ed75bd972f20f5f83b53bd56e62e\",\"name\":\"Barry Cott\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20120327_BJC2429-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20120327_BJC2429-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Barry Cott\"},\"description\":\"Barry is one of the driving forces behind Station Studios. An avid photographer and outdoor enthusiast, he calls Port Stanley, Ontario home.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/stationstudiosphoto\/\",\"http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/barry.cott\/\",\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjcott\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/http:\/\/twitter.com\/bjcott\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cycle: Big Bend CA Overnighter - Station Studios","description":"A post documenting my overnight bikepacking trip to Big Bend Conservation Area and back.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Cycle: Big Bend CA Overnighter - Station Studios","twitter_description":"A post documenting my overnight bikepacking trip to Big Bend Conservation Area and back.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/tracks_20251002IMG_8397.jpg","twitter_creator":"@http:\/\/twitter.com\/bjcott","twitter_site":"@bjcott","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Barry Cott","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/"},"author":{"name":"Barry Cott","@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/62c7ed75bd972f20f5f83b53bd56e62e"},"headline":"Cycle: Big Bend CA Overnighter","datePublished":"2025-10-05T17:14:23+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-08T15:04:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/"},"wordCount":560,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/tracks_20251002IMG_8397.jpg","articleSection":["25 km from WTF","Adventures"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/","url":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/","name":"Cycle: Big Bend CA Overnighter - Station Studios","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/tracks_20251002IMG_8397.jpg","datePublished":"2025-10-05T17:14:23+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-08T15:04:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/62c7ed75bd972f20f5f83b53bd56e62e"},"description":"A post documenting my overnight bikepacking trip to Big Bend Conservation Area and back.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/tracks_20251002IMG_8397.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/tracks_20251002IMG_8397.jpg","width":1200,"height":600,"caption":"Just north of Big Bend CA"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/cycle-big-bend-overnighter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cycle: Big Bend CA Overnighter"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/","name":"Station Studios","description":"Photography, Travel, Outdoor Pursuits","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/62c7ed75bd972f20f5f83b53bd56e62e","name":"Barry Cott","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20120327_BJC2429-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20120327_BJC2429-96x96.jpg","caption":"Barry Cott"},"description":"Barry is one of the driving forces behind Station Studios. An avid photographer and outdoor enthusiast, he calls Port Stanley, Ontario home.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/stationstudiosphoto\/","http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/barry.cott\/","http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjcott\/","https:\/\/x.com\/http:\/\/twitter.com\/bjcott"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7317"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7357,"href":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7317\/revisions\/7357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stationstudios.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}