From Chilko Lake to Lillooet by river. Not the fastest way, but shorter than by road and surely more scenic! The 330 km or so took us 8 days.
Breathtaking scenery from Chilko Lake’s glacier-capped mountains and evergreen forests past the hoodoos of Farwell Canyon to the pinnacles, towering cliffs and narrow dark canyons of the Fraser. We traveled on the clear green Chilko until the Taseko mixed the waters up into a light milky green for the ride on the Chilcotin, all to be swallowed by the muddy tan of the Fraser.
The Fraser is British Columbia’s largest river and its main stem is still running free. The reaches we explored are surprisingly remote and untouched. Many stretches along the rivers are protected as BC parks: Ts’y-los, Bull Canyon, Junction Sheep Range, Churn Creek Protected Area, Edge Hills.
Although most of the kayaking was a scenic float, we had three days with excellent whitewater action. These happened on day 2 with Chilko’s famous Bidwell, White Mile, Eagle’s Claw and Lava Canyon, day 4 with Farwell and Big John Canyons of the Chilcotin and day 8 with whirlpools and gigantic waves on the Mighty Fraser. Yup, even if it looks mostly flat in the pictures there was actually some good whitewater. But with a raft to keep in front of and up to 60 km to paddle each day there was no time for setting up for shots. Heck, not even for scouting – the only rapids we looked at were Bidwell, Farwell (on the shuttle 4 days before we ran it) and French Bar – scouting the last turned out to be unnecessary.
Along the way was plenty of wildlife to observe: a very inquisitive grizz cub, an athletic black bear, jumping red-sided salmon, cliff-dancing sheep and the ubiquitous eagle.
After day 2 we encountered only one other human being (the chief ferry man at Big Bar – this is bar as in sand bar… not booze bar), but there were plenty of signs of human activities: from native petroglyphs and fishing structures over thundering rapids to abandoned mine sites glued like swallow nests to sheer cliffs in inaccessible places.
Check out our route, campsites and some of the rapids on BC OpenMaps
A few more numbers:
Chilko: 60 km, 60 cms, 5 m/km (Bidwell section 8 m/km)
Chilcotin: 125 km, 120 cms, 3 m/km
Fraser: 140 km, 1200 cms, 1.8 m/km
Total elevation drop: 976 m
TRIP REPORT
Day 1: Chilko Lake to Mid Chilko, 20 km – 3 hrs
Sokeye are jumping and a grizz cub is staring at us in wonder as we float by. Lots of flat water. The night gets really cold – no wonder this is fall in the Chilcotin.
Chilko Lake
Sorry, just had to put this one in - most salmon were still quite alive
Day 2: Mid Chilko to Taseko Junction, 40 km – 5 hrs
Excellent whitewater. Some class III in s-bends upstream of the kayaker put-in. John hits the kayaker last-chance eddy above Bidwell (in his 16 ft raft). Bidwell feels bigger than it looked from shore. White Kilometer and White Mile are great fun roller coaster rides. Read and run through Eagle’s Claw. A black bear in the narrow lava canyon below sends John and the raft on collision course with the opposite canyon wall.
Bidwell (at 60 cms) - note the wood on bottom left
Check out some exciting action images of Bidwell on the Northwest Brigade Paddling Club blog.
Entrance of Bidwell
Below Bidwell
Running Bidwell - photo Matt Feagan
Taseko Junction
Day 3: Taseko Junction to Dee’s Corner, 55 km – 6.5 hrs
The milky Taseko joins the clear Chilko creating the typical light blue color of the Chilcotin. Nice class II to Siwash Bridge, which poses no problem at this low water level. Later lots of flat water. Somewhere the small Chilcotin mixes its waters with Taseko and Chilko and the river takes its name. Entertainment is provided by a bear swimming across the river in front of us and climbing a near vertical cliff, sending gravel flying into the water. Good scenery but no whitewater through Bulls Canyon. Some agriculture and roads close to the river until we get to the start of Hanceville Canyon.
Cold Foggy Morning
Day 4: Dee’s Corner to Big Creek, 40 km – 5 hrs
Great scenery in Hanceville and Big Creek Canyons and entertaining whitewater, class II-III. We are definitely getting into sagebrush country now. Camp at confluence with Big Creek – nice spot. Good hike through open pine and Douglas fir forest onto a ridge with lots of curly grass (bunch grass).
Big Creek Canyon
Day 5: Big Creek to Fraser River/McEven Creek, 40 km – 5 hrs
More great scenery and some class II-III until we get to Farwell Canyon, about IV- at this level. Easily scouted from the bridge: a couple of offset holes above and a squirly narrow canyon below. Junction Sheep Range Park is now on our left, with semi-desert cliffs, hoodoos, but we don’t see a single member of the largest bighorn sheep herd in BC. Big John is the most impressive canyon on the Chilcotin and provides a fun 2 km class III roller coaster ride through a narrow gap between steep cliffs. A couple of kilometers downstream the glacial blue flows of Chilcotin are swallowed by the brown sediment loaded water of the Mighty Fraser. Hoodoos, cliffs, and thankfully fast current. The rapids marked on the canoe guide are nothing but short wave trains.
Chilcotin Hoodoos
Farwell Canyon
Start of Big John Canyon
John in Big John Canyon
Fraser Chilcotin Confluence
Day 6: McEven Creek – Deadmen Creek; 50 km – 5.5 hrs
Soon we float by Gang Ranch Bridge. On our right is Churn Creek Protected Area. All flat water today, but moving at a good click of 10 km/h past a spectacular scenery; an endless parade of hoodoos, steep canyon walls, pastel-colored cliffs. A couple of outstanding landmarks: the “Pulpit” above Lone Cabin Creek and the “Cathedrals” between China Gulch and Deadmen Creek. The latter are a 2 or 3-kilometer wall of pinnacles reminiscent of Bryce Canyon. Camped on sandy beach. Checked out abandoned gold mine above our campsite and hike to the pinnacles for a closer look.
Fraser Cathedrals
Beach Camp
Day 7: Deadmen Creek to Big Eddy, 51 km – 6 hrs
Some whitewater today, albeit French Bar Rapid comes only in at about class III. It’s not typical of the Fraser rapids downstream. The river does not narrow, it just gets shallow. Hey Diddle Diddle, right down the middle ... is the best bet although John decides to explore a few big waves (reversals) on the bottom right. Around the corner are a few whirlpools and waves (one of them a stellar surf wave Pete checks out) and a constriction with some more swirly water. 3 km below French Bar is the Big Bar ferry crossing, where we stop for a chat with the ferryman. We float by the hoodoos of Watson Bar, through Chisholm Canyon and another Canyon above Begby Creek. In many impossible places old roads come down to the river, most of them obliterated by slides or floods, witnessing the miner’s industrious activities. The plan is to camp somewhere below Leon Creek, but I guess I didn’t look close enough at the map. The river narrows and enters Moran Canyon which continues for about 10 km without flat spots for tents. Nothing at Kelly Creek, a major side canyon, only a couple of mining shacks glued to the cliffs. Where the map shows a big eddy we find finally a good spot, but have to do some rockwork to clear the campsites.
It was here in 1808 that Simon Fraser and his men had to abandon their canoes and continue their journey to the Pacific on foot. Moran Canyon was also the site of a proposed hydroelectric dam in the 1950’s and 1970’s. The dam would have turned the river into a lake, reaching 260 km upstream to Quesnel. Alas, the dam was never built and the main stem of the Fraser is still the largest river in the North American Pacific (and possibly one of the world’s largest rivers) still running free of human alterations.
Above French Bar
Chisholm Canyon
Still Searching for a Flat Spot for our Tents
Old Mine at Kelly Creek - no camping here
Moon and Whirlpools - finally found a spot
Day 8: Big Eddy to Takeout, 25 km – 3 hrs
The description in an old canoe guidebook warns against entering the lower canyons – “Moran Canyon … can only be run with moderate safety by inflatable rafts of 20 feet length…” But this section is commercially rafted – so how bad could it be? So we run ‘Pipeline’ – a big curling crashing wave, ‘Powerline’ – a wave train followed by a swirly squeeze, ‘Split Rock’ and even find a new (well, at least unexpected) rapid – ‘Surprise’, with a massive (but avoidable) wave train, a narrow squeeze between huge boulders and big whirlpools and boils. We pass through a couple more scenic canyons: Pavilion and Fountain and we are at the take-out. The black polished boulders on shore look as if we are in the deep dark guts of the river. And indeed, we are: when I had a look at the take-out in July, 10 or 15 meters of water were above the very spot where we stepped on shore.
Never-ending Canyons: Moran, Pavilion, Fountain
