Paddling

One of my favourite ways to spend time

B.C. paddling

I've done most of my paddling in the Cariboo region, which includes the Quesnel, Cariboo, and Cottonwood rivers, as well as farther afield, the Chilko of White Mile notoriety. Other rivers in B.C. that I've run are the Clearwater, the Bridge, the Chilliwack, the Upper Fraser, the Thompson, the Nahatlatch, and others.

Paddling on Vancouver Island includes surfing at Long Beach or Jordan River, and the Cowichan, Chemainus, Nanaimo, Gordon, and Koksilah rivers. So far my only island pictures are of Englishman river falls.

on the El Salto river in Mexico

Mexico

the drop that the El Salto (means
big jump in spanish) was named for

We made one short but very fun trip to Mexico with Agua Azul. My friend Kelly was on a later trip and ran all the same rivers I did, and he got some great pictures and actually did all the work of scanning them. See Mexico pictures

Resources

Cariboo area: Mark Savard at his shop Red Shred's Bike and Board Shed (Red Shreds). Their number is (250) 398-SURF and they're at 95 South First Avenue in Williams Lake. Mark can let you know what the water levels are on the local rivers and how to get there.
For paddling maps, go to Cariboo Chilcotin Adventure Guide Maps. They have a map and a description of the Chilko. The only correction I'd like to make is that the real Lava Canyon, which is a short easy section with vertical basalt walls (which is marked wrong on the 1:250 000 scale Forest Service maps as well) is actually after Eagle's Claw. For water levels in B.C. on the web, see Environment Canada River Data.
For rafting in the area I recommend Big Canyon Rafting run by Mike Green, who I used to paddle with. He's rafted on the Upper and Lower Cariboo runs, the Devil's Eyebrow and Canyon runs on the Quesnel river, the Chilko, and probably the Taseko and Chilcotin rivers as well. His overnight trip on the Cariboo and Quesnel sounds like a great deal. Those are two excellent runs and Quesnel Forks is a great place to camp.
Smithers area: go meet Sue at Aquabatics, or just check out the web site for new and used gear.
Northern B.C. and Cariboo: the Northwest Paddle Brigade Club in Prince George have a nice website with photos and info.
Vancouver Island: which is where I am, you could e-mail me. The island has mainly winter paddling because we don't get the snowfields to fuel spring and summer paddling and it rains mostly in the winter. Yes, in the winter, it rains all the time. The rivers are mostly small volume and technical.
The authority on Northern Vancouver Island paddling seems to be Jeffrey Holden, who has very informative pages (I like a person who puts in lots of detail) for the rivers up there.
Cochrane Kayak Club
For general knowledge and terminology, check out the rec.boats.paddling FAQ
This table is a handy comparison chart for boat statistics.

A nice web site is Paddleguides, which has info on rivers worldwide and includes some of the classic B.C. runs.

Other people's photos

Photos by Hyak Rafting from their Chilko-Chilcotin-Fraser Gallery:

Bidwell Falls (high water, summer)
Another picture of Bidwell
Under the bridge at Farwell Canyon on the Chilcotin
The Chilcotin River with Chilcotin countryside in the background

Coastal B.C. paddling page

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