Part of my job at RidersWest magazine is to experience ATVing and other motorized sports for myself. Just two weeks ago I was invited by Scott Barsby, owner of Toby Creek Adventures, to come ATVing for a full day in the beautiful backcountry around Panorama. I happily accepted his offer and tagged along with six guys who were visiting the area—and they were ready to rip, rev and roar into the bush.
Four of the men—Greg Tait, Gary Ven Den Ende, Dave Stuart and Mark Wallace, who everyone called Wally—had grown up in Ontario. They were buddies from school and were celebrating a reunion. From time to time the four men meet up for a guy’s trip, and this time they had agreed to meet up in the Kootenays. Edward and Julian van Hierden, a father/son duo from Lethbridge, were on vacation in Fairmont Hot Springs and had driven up for the day to enjoy the ATVing that Toby Creek Adventures offers.
We set out at 10 a.m. after our guide, Tim Hurst, suited us up with helmets, jackets and raincoats. We did a few practice loops after we chose our machines. All of them were Arctic Cats, but they had various models depending on size and weight. Tim took us on the Paradise Ridge Tour that started at the base of an old mine and wound us through tree-lined trails. We stopped periodically, sometimes to have a break and sometimes so that Tim could point out places of interest to us, including an abandoned and destroyed cabin. No one would be able to find it if they were following the path, but as Tim knew the area so well, he led us by foot to the demolished and desolate wood cabin. No one knows who lived there or why the past owners had built this cabin where it lies today. Spooky, eh?
Another time we stopped to admire the view and saw a bear gazing down at us from a steep mountain bank. Or was that bear a tree stump disguised as a bear? It had us guessing for about five minutes as we squinted up at this black speck that half of us were sure was a bear and half of us were sure was a tree stump. Finally the binoculars came out. It was a stump.
We made our way to the summit, which reaches 9,000 feet. Here we took a break for lunch and Tim cooked us up some tasty hamburgers, complete with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, onions and banana peppers. Over lunch we admired the gorgeous mountain scenery and had plenty of photo opportunities.
Once lunch was over, it was time for some mud mania to begin, as a day of ATVing would not be complete without mud, obviously. Tim led the group down to an area that was used by Toby Creek Adventures specifically for mud bogging. Here all of the guys went a little crazy, splashing through the mud with school kid grins on their faces. I hung back a bit and managed to get lots of action shots of the group instead. Rest assured, I still got dirty, probably dirtier than the others, as each time they flew past me on their machines, mud splashed across my entire body and face. Wally also let me borrow his ATV and I went through the pits a few times too. I can definitely see the appeal. If a girly-girl like me enjoys it, then it’s got to be pretty great!
After everyone was sufficiently dirty, we called it a day and travelled down the mountain. Everyone arrived back at the base a little more dusty and tired than when we started out this journey, but in great spirits. None of the guys on the trip let me know that dirt had been accumulating on my face all day, especially on my upper lip. From afar, I appeared to have a moustache, which we all had a good laugh at once I looked at myself in a mirror. Aside from that, I would rate the trip a 10 out of 10.
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