A Bird's-Eye View of Tesla Lake

Guest Post—A Visual Journey with Photographer Taylor Burk

You wake up to the gentle crackling of a wood stove and adjust your eyes to the soft morning sunlight shining into your cabin. You sit up and look out the window in front of your bed and see a perfect layer of mist over the mirror-like Tesla Lake and the surrounding mountains. On the shore you see the floatplane that brought you to the lodge, patiently waiting for today’s adventure. Flying is the only way into this natural oasis, as there are no roads or trails— not even any other connecting waterways. Just you, your inviting cabin, and untouched wilderness.

This is how days start at Tesla Lake Lodge.

Sitting just shy of 1000 metres above sea level, Tesla Lake is located deep in the rugged Pattullo Range of British Columbia’s impressive Coast Mountains, in the heart of the Eutsuk Nature Conservancy Area of North Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. One of the largest of BC’s provincial parks, Tweedsmuir is roughly 480 km northwest of Vancouver as the crow flies and encompasses vast, remote mountain ranges sprinkled with waterfalls, lakes, and hiking trails.  It is a giant playground for any outdoor lover.  There is ample opportunity for hiking, cycling, canoeing, wildlife viewing, and fishing.

Tesla Lake Lodge and Lakes District Air are owned and operated by Nick Hawes who flies in visitors to experience the utmost solitude in unspoiled nature and angling. As a child he had been captivated by aircrafts. He expressed that “every small boy that sees a plane fly over kinda wonders about how to get a hold of the controls of that machine, right?”

He eventually took a risk and obtained his pilot license. Fast-forward more than fifteen years, and Nick has the dream job, flying over snaking turquoise rivers, endless evergreen forest, mountaintops, and glaciers, in four planes he knows intimately.

Nick flies in one group at a time to Tesla Lake, for guaranteed privacy and exclusive fishing. The lodge is the only establishment in this pristine area, so guests are the only people with access to the namesake lake as well as three others and a river, all excellent for fly fishing. Trophy rainbow trout swim the crystal clear waters, including a legendary 25-pounder named Walter, who has outsmarted eager anglers time after time. Several boats and canoes are available for use, and transportation from lake to lake consists of one scenic flight after another.

The Tweedsmuir area is home to some of the most spectacular scenery in North America, and getting a bird’s eye view is well worth the journey to isolated Tesla Lake. Fly-in fishing and wilderness getaways are truly a unique way to experience the natural beauty of British Columbia.