Ever since I heard our Irish friends talking about it last year I have been fixated upon getting up to Tyax Lodge in the Chilcotins to catch a float plane up into the lakes deep into the range and ride the single tracks back out. I can say now that my eyes have been opened to a new and glorious type of riding, and that Tyax certainly did not disappoint!!
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| Krissy "Guns" Loading the plane |
It was a novel event pulling the wheels off and jamming 5 bikes and bodies into a tiny little single engine Dehaviland float plane. The views over the Chilcotins are spectacular, and I was caught off guard by the dry and dusty rock peaks around us as we flew. I had assumed that everything north of Whistler and Pemberton just continued to be ice-fields and glaciers the further north and closer to Alaska that you went. I had forgotten about the rain shadow that the coastal range caused, and these mountains had an entirely different character to the nearby ones around the city this Aussie now calls home, in Vancouver.
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| The dry mountaintops of the Chilcotins |
I've done a lot of flying in small planes through mountains to mine sites around the world so I wasn't as excited as the others, and I was focussed on the terrain the single tracks would take us. It all looked so smooth and flat from a few hundred metres above, but I knew we'd be down there sweating and pedalling our hearts out soon enough.
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| it looked so flat from up here... |
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| Plane #2 |
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| Plane #3 |
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| Plane #4 |
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| Spruce Lake |
I was on the second plane out of four plane-loads we had hired to bring us up to Spruce Lake, and so after touching down, I took my time getting the demo bike together and ready as I waited for the next two loads of my wife & friends to get to the lake. I had put my XC bike in for a front suspension service prior to the trip, but the shop had had issues with the lefty fork and needed to send it away to the manufacturer for servicing. I was put out that it was going to cost me another few hundred to replace some broken parts, but the shop surprised me with the loan of a demo bike - a top-of-the-line XC bike with 29" wheels and all the options - hydraulic seat post, dual ascend/descend rear suspension with handlebar lockout lever. Bicycle Sports Pacific - you guys made me a happy man with that move, so thank you!
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| 2014 Trigger 29er with Carbon Lefty - a nice steed indeed! |
Once everyone had arrived we took a look at the map, and I had not double checked I had the trails on my GPS, so I would be tracking our route, but not have them pre-loaded for navigation. It looked pretty simple - we would be tracking around the spur of one mountain and following the main drainage out from Spruce Lake along Gun Creek, and then back up to Tyaughton Lake where the lodge and our cars were. We did make one wrong turn early in the ride that sent us all huffing and puffing and then pushing our bike straight up the side of a mountain.. but it didn't take long to figure we hadn't signed up for this and quickly got ourselves back on the right tracks.
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| Trail map - we rode the Gun Creek Trail |
The rest of the trail after that is honestly a blur of fun. There were tracks winding through the trees, with some rocks and roots - the normal sort of XC stuff I was used to around Squamish and the North Shore. But then there were stunning alpine meadows where the trees stopped and grassland opened up and in front of you the track snaked through knee high grass and the craggy and rocky mountains loomed all around. Our group of 7 riders just stopped more than a few times to simply marvel at the sight in front of us (and maybe catch our breath!). The trail never stayed the same - one minute flying through wide open forest, the next rattling down a short downhill section then streaming through a clear flowing creek, pumping to get to the top of a rocky section with no vegetation , then back in closed-in forest and suddenly the open alpine meadows again. It was mostly a fast riding trail, with a few sketchy sections and some quickly closed out corners right up on the side of the mountains that really made you feel alive!
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| Beautiful alpine meadows |
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| The Crew posing while crossing a bridge |
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| Dan riding up an old rockslide |
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| Pure Enjoyment! ..stopped for a break in the forest |
It have to say though, that you really need to make sure you're prepared for this kind of a trip. We had multiple flat tyres, snapped a bunch of plastic tyre levers changing them, broke a rear brake, snapped a chain and exploded a de-railer. Zip ties, wire, duct tape, pliers.. not normally things I carry when riding close to home, but when you're 30km away from your car in the mountains.. the only way out is to push your bike if you cant fix it.. so brush up on your McGyver skills and be prepared :) Walkie talkies at the front and rear of the pack were also a good move to let the group know what was happening. The first thing I did when I came home was to stock up on the repair gear I will take with me for next time. Some heavy gauge wire, light medium and heavy zip ties, a spare chain, chain links, CO2 tubes and metal tyre levers all went into the kit.
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| An exploded derailler.. |
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| ...and a snapped rear brake mount |
This was definitely one of my highlights of the year.. and I will be doing this trip again every year I have decided... and everyone else in our group said the same!
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| coming home via the Hurley Pass |
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