Now I've traveled a lot. A lot a lot, and yes this will sound snobby, but it takes a pretty magnificent place to make me go "oooooooohh, awwwwww." I would have never thought I would find one of those places that make my jaw drop and mind stand still in my own backyard. Tyax Resort was one of them.

If you haven't been to the south Chilcotin mountains in BC you have to go! Calling it beautiful wouldn't even scratch the surface of how magnificent it is up there.

We filmed a Ride Guide episode up at Tyax Resort with a great crew of people and had the luxury of being shuttled up there with Tyax Air instead of having to drive three bumpy hours north of Whistler. Upon first impression, our pilot Dale took fellow rider Andreas Hestler and I as a couple of pretentious clothes-hogs because neither of us knew what to bring with us for the trip and packed a HUGE Dakine bag each.

They were so big in fact that they wouldn't fit in the pontoon where most of the bags are usually kept so we had to sit three abreast in the tiny back seat of the plane. I think it was Andreas' plan to get closer to rider Vanessa Carrinton and I. Ha!

Using a float plane as our own personal mini-van to get from alpine lake to alpine lake was definitely the kind of travel I could get used to. Riding through handlebar height wildflowers with our great guide Keith and eating 5-star cuisine was just icing on the cake. Just don't forget your riding glasses like I did or you'll end up in the emergency room with a scratched cornea (like I did after the trip!).

That aside, writing doesn't do the place justice so instead, here are some pictures. Put it on your to-do list. Trust me on this one!