Day 15: Drive from Pemberton to Tyax Resort - High Trail Mountain Bike ride (Chilcotins, BC)

I had a good nights sleep and got up and had a very good home cooked breakfast at the B&B, I packed up my gear and drove into Pemberton. I stopped at the supermarket and bought some groceries and then headed off towards the Hurley River Forest service road. It was drizzling as I set off along the road.

Driving along Hurley Pass road from Pemberton to Tyax Resort

Id been expecting a really poor quality road, from what I'd read on mtbr forum and other sources, but the road was well graded and I made fairly swift progress, even when the cloud dropped right on the road. The road was had pretty good views along along its path.

The drive from Pemberton was about 62 miles and took me about 1 hour to drive when I arrived at the resort I couldn't check in as my room was not ready, and soon after I arrived it started to rain quite hard, so I spent a bit of time in the Bar using my laptop.

Mpa of drive from Pemberton to Hurley Pass road

At around 2.15pm it stopped raining and I decided to get and go for ride, I decided to do a ride recommended by a contact from MTBR, But he had told me the wrong trail to go up !!, and the ride turned out to be a very hard ride / push up the high trail. I followed the road from the resort and took a wrong turn at one point, before back tracking to the start of the high trail, the trails are not that well signed in the area.

Slogging up the dirt road - Video (5 MB)

Once on the high trail it would be pretty hard to go wrong, as its a dirt road all the way up. On the way up I saw train of horse coming down the trail who said to watch out for bears !!, but as the trail was pretty wide I wasn't too worried about surprising any bears. I also met two bikers who were coming down, they told me not to take the high trail singletrack as it was a complete bog due to the rain and I would have to push my bike along most of it going up hill.

High trail mountain bike ride, Chilcotins

Dirt road heading up into Alpine meadows - Video (13 MB)

I didn't take the left turning for the High trail singletrack but carried on up the high trail road, which eventually broke out of the trees into the Alpine Zone. The gradient of the trail going up wasn't as steep here and I was bale to enjoy the views while continuing to climb upwards.

Heading up dirt road in Alpine Zone - Video (4MB)

Eventually i came to a point where I would have to push my bike to carry on heading up, Even though I had a feeling that I was very close to the top of the mountain I decided not to go any further as it was getting late, and although I knew it wouldn't take long to get back down I had to allow time for any mechanical problems I might encounter. So I stopped and took some pictures and then started to head back down the high trail road.

Heading back down doubletrack from Meadows - Video (11 MB)

More doubletrack descending (10 MB)

It goes without saying going back down the trail was a lot more fun than riding up the trail

Double track returning to tree line - Video (76 MB)

At the end of the high trail I found some really good unmarked singletrack which headed back towards the resort, it went up and down and twisted an turned around in the trees. Its a shame i couldn't find and info or maps for the singletrack trails as I suspect there was a lot more than the bits I did find.

Tyax Singletrack - Video (23 MB)

The singletrack eventually linked on Tyax resorts ATV trails and dumped me out on the road.

More Tyax Singletrack - Video (62 MB)

Returning to Tyax Resort - Video (6 MB)

Well I got out and had some vigorous exercise and saw some great vista's, But I wouldn't recommend the ride I did to anyone else. The ride up was brutal , and got so steep in places I was pushing my bike at times. It took me over 3 hrs to ride to my turn around point, But only took me 30 minutes to get back down again !!, the singletrack I found at the bottom was great - If anyone reading this has more info or gps tracks for the singletrack please email them for when I return to the area.

Back at the resort I washed my bike down with their hose, and then checked in. I had a room on the top floor at the end closest to the car park. I then enquired about doing a float plane trip to Warner lake, but there were no trips going up there that had any space on them. I had a soak in the Hot tub and then used the sauna, before eating some of the stuff I bought in Pemberton. Then I watched a film and hit the sack.

DAY 16