The Chilcotins - BC, Canada

Words & Photos: Robin Pieper

The appetiser: Bralorne

Our trip into the Chilcotins started at Bralorne, a small mining town 40 minutes south of the turnoff into the Chilcotins, or 1.5 hours from Pemberton through the Hurley Forest Service Road (FSR). While a Hurley adventure was tempting, the 1.5 hours of slowly shuffling along a gravel road in a hired campervan that was not designed for such things made us opt for the more sensible and more scenic option to drive through the Duffy and Lillooet (not to mention scenic).

This came via a friend in Pemberton who highly recommended the riding at Sunshine Mountain and Coal Creek, both near Bralorne. Will and I were keen to explore. With the Chilcotins a 3 hour detour anyway, it seemed silly to not maximise it.

With the roadside views incredible to start, it was a tough but crucial ask to keep our eyes on the road as it wound up the mountainside with the Bridge River far below. Bralorne itself is tucked away up a side creek - reminiscent of Ross in South Westland. One main street, a few back streets and a few heritage buildings to honour its gold mining glory in days gone by. Although... there were a few fresh renovations and new builds amidst the heritage, so perhaps Bralorne is on the brink of a resurgence. With the holidayer's luxury of mid-week travel, we did unfortunately miss pub opening hours, so for now tall tales of the Bralorne pub will stay tall.

With cell service vanishing about 30km ago, I was navigating off Trailforks and some Canadian instructions. This took us through Bralorne, onto the Sunshine Mountain Gravel FSR, across a bridge (of yet another beautiful stream) and into a pullover bay which my GPS told me was the bottom of Bralorne’s trail network. No sign of a trailhead or other fellow pedallers. Perfect – this was the sort of ‘off the beaten track’ riding we’d hoped to discover.

Like most areas in BC, Sunshine Mountain is accessible by gravel FSR. The road started out friendly enough, but soon became a steep but efficient way to gain metres and a view. We chatted aimlessly to spook any bears who may be inspired to make us into either friends or food, climbing through the kind of scenery that probably hasn’t changed much since the first miners were here. Near the top, the road merged with an old ski piste and dropped us at a small, weathered A-frame cabin, door unlocked. Naturally we took a peek inside. It felt like a time capsule from Sunshine Mountain’s ski past – wineglasses at the ready, dusty gear and a well-maintained guest book - although in the modern day mostly spouting stories of snowmobiling. The tow ropes were long gone, but you could still picture the place humming on club pasta night.

Anyway, history lesson complete, it was time for what we’d come for: dirt. Our first choice was ‘Alfigetti’. It treated us to a loamy, natural singletrack with plenty of interest. Nothing too scary.

The Sunshine Mountain tracks intersect a few times on their way down the hill. With the FSR crossing the whole network at some point close to halfway, it was an easy yes to loop back up the road and sample some other trails. No such thing as a bad trail in Bralorne, but if we’re picking favourites, lower Wooha would be my choice. An epic mix of tech, natural doubles and the two best linking berms in all of British Colombia. Two laps of that please!

Well after a ride like that, what better than.. the pub? Oh no wait, it’s Monday. Never mind.

That evening we had our pick of a few different overnight options, but chose to park up at Friburg Recreation Site on the shores of Tyaughton Lake. It was free and close to the trailhead for our chosen route into the Chilcotins. Lakeside nachos and cold beer/cider out of the van fridge was an acceptable substitute for the lack of pub. We tucked ourselves into bed appropriately early in preparation for the days ahead.

The Main Event: The Chilcotins

My dream originally was to fly deep into the Canadian Wilderness and pedal our way back home. When I first heard of float plane accessible mountain biking in Canada, it seemed like the ultimate experience. Alas it was not to be for this pair of travellers. It turns out that the expenses, logistics and regulations of 2025 are prohibitive for only two people. As the guiding company didn’t sell individual seats on their float plane trip, our choice was to charter a plane entirely or jump onto one of their guided trips. We weighed the cost up of these options against a ‘once in a lifetime trip’, but realistically we didn’t have that many spare pennies. Instead, we devised an overnight loop pedalling in and out from the road-end.

In August 2023, a major wildfire hit the area. Remnants still remain and the changed landscape is still stark two years later. The first 10km of the Gun Creek Trail heads upstream through charred forest alongside the creek. While it allows for wider views through the open/burned trunks, it’s a shadow of what we can only imagine the trail used to be like.

As we left the burn zone behind, the landscape shifted – dense forest gave way to rolling bands of aspen and poplar, before opening again into alpine meadows. It sounds idyllic, but the reality was a slow grind: we were climbing an intermediate trail in reverse, with plenty of steep pinches that had us pushing our bikes.

4-5 hours later and we crested into Spruce Lake, checking into camp early afternoon. Rather than lugging overnight gear/tent all the way from NZ and riding with loaded bikes, we had opted to stay in a catered lodge setup, run by Tyax Adventures. For us, this was luxury like never before.

After a gourmet afternoon tea, and knowing we’d want to eat our money’s worth over dinner, we eyed up a nearby peak for an afternoon out and back. Just over an hour's steady work saw us arrive at the tree line and top of ‘open heart trail’, giving us an appreciation for the scale and beauty of the landscape.

The next morning we set off for Windy Pass and into the wide sweep of the Eldorado Basin. From there, the trail led us back down out of the mountains. A web of routes spilled off the ridgeline, but we had our sights set on Lick Trail. The climb was in equal parts reasonable and hard, especially when attempting to ride as much as possible. Will managed more than me but it was still about only 2/3rds rideable – although that was better than expected. As we climbed higher each view provided a different perspective. Finding motivation was easy enough.

On this day, Windy Pass did not live up its name, but the surrounding low vegetation indicated its potential. The downhills in the basins are flowy and stunning, through alpine meadows and stands of conifers. So far, the only wildlife keeping us company was the odd marmot. We kept our eyes peeled for a moose, wolf or bear.

Enjoying a sandwich and homebaked treats from our catered stay at Eldorado Cabin, it was time for the final short climb to the top of our 1200m descent out of the Chilcotins. The long, sweeping turns of open meadow soon steepened to roots and tight corners through spruce and firs, changing to pines as we lost altitude. The trail consistently provided great tech with rhythm. So for 1200m of straight descent, we let loose.

For the final 400m of descent, we were back in the 2023 burnt area with scorched trees and talcum powder dirt with nothing to hold it together. The trail hadn’t been rebuilt post-fire, but with open forest and loose dirt it was easy enough to surf our own lines, bar the odd burnt stump or rocky bluff along the way.

And then just like that, we were back at the van, raising a cold fizzy drink to a very epic two days in the Chilcotins. All that was left was to take advantage of one of the many surrounding lakes for a cool dip.

To wrap up

We had three days here but easily could’ve stayed a couple of weeks in the South Chilcotins/Cariboo area to fully explore the plethora of trails, lakes, mountains and valleys. It's beautiful, rich in history and with friendly locals. An unmissable spot on a BC biking roadie.