Tenquille Lake Descent

I would not recommend this trail to everyone but a special kind of person (those people with a screw loose that live for type 2 fun) would love this adventure

Ability level for reference: I’m not a stellar biker by any means, would say I’m an honest north shore blue, can handle blacks but walk sections.

Kit: 30L ski touring bags with the bare minimum

The drive: the main FSR is chill but as soon as you cut on to branch 12 it gets hectic. Super overgrown (cars will get scratched) and big washouts - if you bikes are hanging over the hitch like ours we’re take your front wheels off. You will need a high clearance truck and I don’t think a bike rack would make it up.

The Up: no two ways about it this part sucked. 600m elevation gain, 2:45 elapsed time of which you are hiking your bike for 95% of. The mosquitos were vicious and there are multiple river crossings. Some you can cross on rocks and logs, others you just have to walk through them, there’s no other way. One waterfall-ish crossing that was interesting, other than that just expect it to generally suck.

The sleep: We open-air camped on the porch of the hut, the huts been closed for two years but there are bear bins and a toilet that are accessible. Again, the bugs were abusive but the site was gorgeous.

The down: I had a tone of fun on the down. 1500m descent, just over 2 hours elapsed time and I would say I biked 80+% of it, the majority of the trail is mellow and feels like it was cut as a bike trail. There is a section of major overgrowth that just feels like bush wacking, a sections with a bunch of fallen trees a section with loose rock but like I said I was able to ride the vast majority of it and have fun doing so.

All in all it was a really cool adventure and I would do it again hope this helps

Looks like this trail, or at least portions of it, might be getting closed to MTBs this summer, along with many other changes in the Tenquille region following the recently completed Visitor Use Management Strategy organized by PWA, the Lil̓wat Nation, N’Quatqua and the Province of B.C.

"Prohibiting mountain bikes on Tenquille trails and Mt. Barbour trail to minimize disturbance to wildlife, user conflicts, and meet trail objectives"

My honest take is that based on trail conditions of the past couple years this has been a real slog to access for bikers. Certainly worth the payoff with the beauty of the lake and environs, but perhaps it's best left to two feet and not two wheels. There are newer and better bike specific alpine trails in the Sea to Sky.

Ticks are out in full force. Dogs got 15 deer ticks on them, might have occurred near the trail entrance/parking spot across the bridge. We hiked up about 4 km. Trail was clear.

went aug 4, and it was indeed very overgrown. i loved the trail personally, though its quite blind and fast (check your brakes!) for the first 2 thirds. keep your eyes forward and you'll be fine. bottom third is incredible. hikers seem conscious but be aware of their possible presence

I love this trail!!

Bottom third genuinely great. Some sections of thick bush. Make sure you have fresh brake pads and a fresh pair of shorts (code brown)

Single track, not well maintained long descent... you can't even see where your front wheel is going, very overgrown, I'm glad I didn't do the helidrop because I would be disappointed to pay for that. It's unfortunate...

When we rode this trail it was super loose, super blown out and incredibly overgrown. Turned out more of a chore than a pleasure for a back country epic.