Ever since we got our e-cargo bike in 2023, there has been one trip I’ve been longing to do – camping by bike. I love the idea of spending a few nights in nature, without the annoying car ride. We’ve had two planned trips aborted due to rain, but in early July we finally made it to Fort Langley for our first bikepacking trip.

Beyond waiting for dry weather, there were a few challenges we needed to overcome to make this trip a success.

First, we had to fit all of our camping gear and 3 people on two e-bikes.

Paring down all of our camping gear was not as hard as I thought it would be. On every camping trip, our gear expands to fill the available space, so it shouldn’t have been surprising that the opposite would also be true. It was hard leaving behind some things – our camping chairs and thick double air mattress being the biggest losses, but we got along fine without them.

It helped that we had a decent collection of gear from our backpacking days to lean on, like thermarests, a single-burner stove, and lightweight kitchenware. The front rack on our Tern HSD was perfect for putting bulky but light stuff, like sleeping bags. The heavier things ended up on the back.

The second challenge was we had to find a safe and comfortable route from Vancouver to Fort Langley. We knew the Central Valley Greenway would get us to New Westminster – an awesome bike route we’ve ridden many times before – but after that we weren’t sure what to expect in Surrey and Langley.

Google Maps is unreliable for bike directions and wanted to send us down Lougheed Highway for most of the journey. We ignored that, and instead used Translink’s 2025 bike map, Garmin’s cycling heat maps, and Google Streetview to plan the optimal route before we left, with a stop for sushi in Surrey. Even then, we were surprised by what we encountered.

We rode on every type of bike route imaginable – separated lanes, gravel paths, painted bike lanes, and shared roads. The infrastructure was definitely better in Vancouver and Burnaby. Surrey and Langley had nice multi-use paths, but they were often disconnected forcing us to ride on the road with traffic.

The Port Mann Bridge has a great bike/walking path with beautiful views of the mountains and Fraser River, but it was extremely loud with all the cars whizzing by so we didn’t linger.

The last challenge we had to deal with was unexpected but not unplanned for. While riding down 96th Avenue in Langley, our Tern HSD got a flat tire. Luckily, we packed a spare tube and bike pump (although we forgot the tire levers and the wrench required to change a flat on the RadCity, so we got lucky those tires held). This was our first flat tire on the Tern, but we managed to fix it without even unloading the saddle packs, thanks to its ability to sit vertically balanced on the rack. 20 minutes later we were riding again, although nervous about a second puncture.

There were no more flat tires, and we finally arrived at our campsite mid-afternoon. Strava says we biked 48 km in 2 hours and 38 minutes, averaging 18 km/h, but it took us 4 hours and 50 minutes with our lunch break, flat tire, and a few stops to enjoy the view or explore some parks. We didn’t even use 50% of our bike batteries.

I highly recommend checking out Fort Camping on Brae Island if you’re looking for a bike camping trip in the Lower Mainland. Each site has running water and electricity, which is there for the RVs but handy for e-bikes. The sites aren’t as spread out as they would be in a provincial park, so don’t expect privacy, but it has a really family-friendly atmosphere. Every weekend they have a different theme (Western Weekend for us), with loads of activities the staff members run for the kids.

They even have a crew of raccoons inspecting each campsite at night to deal with any food left out.

The best part of the campsite is that downtown Fort Langley is just across the bridge, where you can find a grocery store, pharmacy, and several restaurants (even a tasty vegan one). Not having to pack food saved a lot of space on our bikes.

Our good friend Jenny joined us for the weekend. She would have biked with us, but her work schedule forced her to drive. She brought her own camping gear and bike in her car. I insisted she couldn’t help us cheat by bringing anything for us – I wanted a pure bikepacking accomplishment. Actually, we got to help her when her tent didn’t have the right poles and we MacGyvered a solution with our bungee cords.

For entertainment, we explored the historic fort, where we camped two years ago. Entrance happens to be free this summer.

The biggest highlight of the weekend was harvesting blueberries at a nearby u-pick farm. We biked home with 10 pounds of blueberries for only $10! And that doesn’t include all the extra blueberries that ended up in our stomachs.

On the way home, we decided to take a new route exploring the bike trails north of the Fraser River in Pitt Meadows and Port Coquitlam. We weren’t as prepared for this section and frequently had to stop and double check the map. But it was Sunday, and the roads were busy with cyclists, so we did well just going with the flow.

The highlight was discovering the Coquitlam River, where we stopped to soak our feet in its refreshingly ice-cold water.

We didn’t bike all the way home. Instead we decided to stop at the Lincoln SkyTrain station and use public transit to save us some peddling and avoid some areas without direct and safe bike routes.

It’s nice to know that SkyTrain is an option, but I probably wouldn’t do it again unless we were forced to. It didn’t save us any time and we constantly felt like we were in the way, as there isn’t a natural place to put your bike (nevermind two heavily loaded e-bikes). The good news is, the new Mark V cars (recently announced in this amazing musical video) will have more space for bikes.

I can’t wait until our next bikepacking adventure. Other destinations we’ve had our eyes on include Ruckle Provincial Park on Salt Spring Island and Lighthouse Marine Park in Point Roberts. If you know of any other campgrounds that are bike accessible from Vancouver, I would love some recommendations!

Extra Links:

• Strava activity there through Burnaby and Surrey
• Garmin course
• Strava activity back via Pitt Meadows and Port Coquitlam
• Photo album