What Bike For......Bella Coola?

My wife and I are heading there for a week or so in July. Last night my wife said "shall we take our bikes?". To be honest I'd not thought about bikes but a quick google suggests that there are some MTB trails there. I'm reasonably sure that I'll take my Whishart hardtail with me, but other options would be my 6x6 fully, Brodie Libido for a laugh, or even finish off my Specialized M2 / Mag 21 project.

My wife hasn't done any proper mountain biking before and owns a '96 Brodie Sovereign with a set of SIDS. The bike's around 24lb but with a short stem and wide bar, so great for cruising along some nice singletrack or forestry roads.

With all this in mind, will there be much riding suitable for my wife? If so, I'll bring a retro steed along for a laugh. If not, is there much full on rad dood stuff that would warrant a 35lb full suspension bike?

i spent a good chunk of time up there until about 5 yrs ago, so unless someone's been busy digging, you won't really find any riding besides wandering up old logging roads, or hike-biking hiking trails.

there's some heinous adventure riding to be had up on the plateau (think chilcotins on steroids), but you won't get far with a non-riding partner.

Thanks CL. I guess someone has been at least a little bit busy as I found the video below, and also mention of part of the Snooka Trail system being developed for mountain biking.

Maybe an impossible question to answer, but would any / many of the logging roads be smooth enough for someone who's not a mountain biker to ride along on a short travel hardtail (i.e. Squamish type FSRs), or are we talking primitive chunderfests? I'm not necessarily looking for mountain biking in it's current sense, just some riding off road that will be fast than walking and something different to do for a day or so, as we will be there for a few days. If you know Lucille and Shadow Lake for example, we've done some nice riding around those lakes. My wife used to race BMX so she knows to stand up going down hill and some basics, but she won't be entering an enduro any time soon.

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/268271/

As you head along Hwy 20, stop at Farwell Canyon and check out the sand dune and river views. It's a short rolling trail with one deepish gully to cross (the black speck above the gully in the centre of the photo is our van in the parking area for the dune trail).

There are some trails above Charlotte Lake (up to Cowboy Lakes) but it probably wouldn't be worth it unless you are driving across Hwy 20. The abandoned Rimarko Ranch is kinda cool, and there is good camping at the lake.

https://vimeo.com/15543123

Thanks for the heads up. We should check out the sand dune for sure. Re. camping, I think we'll be pushing it to get much further than Williams Lake in a day with dawg in a pickup truck. We are planning an early (cooler…) start with plenty of stops on the way up. Looks like there's one or two sites not too far west of WL on Highway 20. Then day 2 will be a chilled drive to Bella Coola area with some random stops / sight seeing.

I think I might take my bike at least for some early morning FSR exploring and dog exercising if access to water is easy enough. Looks like dawg might fry if we ride later in the day.