5-22-07 // Online Exclusive: Man the Shuttle Plane!

The Chevy Astro van was holding up fine, but it was obvious that it was not built to navigate any sort of waterbar or unpaved switchback. We were already more than two rock-rattled hours deep in the Chilcotin Mountains north of Pemberton, British Columbia. As he urged the van up a choppy turn, Jon mentioned something about this being the most time he’d spent driving on dirt. Whether or not he was joking, he seemed to be getting the hang of it.

We finally arrived at Tyax Resort, to find a large and surprisingly well-appointed log hotel nestled beside the pristine Lake Tyaughton and surrounded by Canadian wilderness. From the resort, Dale Douglas of Tyax Air piloted the de Havilland “Beaver” float plane—which snugly fit 5 bikes and 5 riders—to Spruce Lake about 20 miles further into the mountains.

This was the first mountain bike float-plane trip of the season. A week earlier, our guide, Erin Heintzman, had hiked the Gun Creek Trail with a rowdy crew of high school students. She claimed the trail was in good condition, but that a major river crossing had been flooded with raging water. From the plane, Erin could see that the waters had receded, but exactly how we would cross the still-churning river was a problem that was miles of winding, scenic singletrack away.

The lure of Whistler’s luscious Bike Park brought me north, but I quickly learned that there is more to BC than tabletops, manmade stunts, and blistering descents. I’d seen the buttery-smooth singletrack of The Collective, but I had no idea that it was accessible to the average girl. Luckily, the local guide outfit, Ticket2RideBC, works with Dale at Tyax to book the float-plane trips and arrange for guides, who are indispensable in navigating the cross-country style terrain deep within the Canadian wilderness.

Tyax Resort, a large and surprisingly well-appointed log hotel nestled beside the pristine Lake Tyaughton

The de Havilland Beaver float plane awaits our arrival on Spruce Lake