Anticipation ran high as we all arrived on Friday night and arranged our groups for the flights the next day. The De Havilland Beaver we would be using to reach Lorna Lake is owned and operated by Tyax Air,
and the owner/lead pilot would be riding with us the next day, thereby letting one of his other pilots do the grunt work. The plane will take the pilot, and four riders plus bikes. Our group of 12, therefore needed three flights. The first flight was at 0730hr and seeing as I was one of the responsible parties for breakfast on Sat morning I was up at 0545hr making sure that we were all fueled up for an epic adventure. With the first group out, and the breakfast dish's cleaned, we waited for our trip and eventually took off about 0945hr. The flight in is about 45 minutes in length and I have to say the father I flew out, the more I wondered if it was possible to get back to Tyaughten Lake by dark.
By the time we arrived at Lorna the wind had picked up, and the landing was a bit bumpy. Our pilot professionally put us down and with a little bit of muscle power we managed to hold the plane on the tiny dock as we unloaded the bikes.
He was soon on his way back and we were left in the middle of the wilderness with a long day ahead. 
Group 2 was waiting for us at the drop zone, and we quickly saddled up and headed off. Group 1 had already left for the top of Lorna pass and would be waiting for us there. The scenery was spectacular and after a short ride we started the first hike a bike up Lorna pass.
A lot of the trail was rideable but with the slope being very loose and the trail quite steep, most of us decided to save a bit of energy for riding later and walked our bike up to the top.
Once at the top of Lorna Pass we met the other members of group 1 and headed off for the first of the days wicked downhills; this one about an hour in length. The trail was super flowy and fun. Once we reached the bottom we started our hike to the top of Deer pass. This climb was quite difficult and required a lot of hike a bike. We reached the summit in about an hour and forty five minutes and stopped for lunch.
It was now about 2 in the afternoon, and I really wondered whether we had bit off a bit too much to chew. The view from the top of Deer Pass included the Big Dog fire currently burning to the north. 
Since the fire is in the middle of nowhere, there is no real attempt being made to put it out. There was not a cloud in the sky so that the smoke plume really stood out as it climbed skyward.
The climb up Deer Pass was really our last climb of the day and the rest of the day ripped by in a blur. We rode on for another 90 minutes and after stopping for a rest we asked “how much longer?’ Most of us thought hey maybe an hour. We were informed that we had about 3 to 3.5 hours of downhilling ahead of us before we reached Tyaughton Lake. Oh My God, maybe I had better have another goo.
The rest of the day was so sweet. Fast swoopy flowing single-track with the hammer on.
Short rests to exclaim how much fun you were having and then another session to reinforce your thoughts.
By the time we finished back at the lake around 7 pm I was exhausted. It was apparent that everyone else was also as our feeble attempts at partying burned out at about 1030 and we all went to bed.
From my point of view, the riding I experienced on this ride may well have been the best I have had anywhere including our 13000 ft descent to the ocean in Peru this spring. If you get a chance, don’t pass a trip up to the Chilcotin's. The riding is topnotch.
