This weekend Dan & I headed up to Clearwater in Wells Gray National Park, British Columbia. It was a pretty long drive and we finally arrived around midnight on Friday. Too tired to find any decent campground I half heartedly pitched my tent in the IWE car park and Dan slept in the back of his truck.
Saturday we managed to hook up with Wavesport rep Kevin and some other local paddlers for a run down the lower section on the Clearwater River. It was quite an event as one of the kayakers was getting married that day and was having a pre-wedding paddle whilst the bride to be and wedding party members were on a rafting trip with IWE on the same stretch of river. The put-in for this section is either in a pretty horrendous looking eddy below the Kettle (an unrunable class 6 rapid) or at the rafting put-in just below the Kettle and another rapid called Three Fingers. Not willing to put in the sketchy looking eddy (more revolting than the Nile Special eddy) I opted for the rafting put-in.
Straight away your welcomed with the 'Mosh Pit'. A nice bouncy wave train - but some of the waves can sometime 'mosh' you if your not on your game. Next up is 'The Wall or Hole in the Wall'. The line for this is left of the rock island. You start off the rapid by hitting the nice green standing wave facing towards the rock island. Once over this green wave you will see a tongue and start heading down towards the left, slotting in between two holes. The hit here is a nice and even if you mess up and hit it slightly off angle or go into one of the holes the water is quite forgiving here! Then again more big volume wave trains followed by 'Surprise Eddy' - I guess this gets it's name by paddlers like myself and Dan who don't know the river and ended up paddling into some big boils and whirlpools getting stern squirted and tossed around!
Around the next corner is 'Tsunami' a nice surf wave in the middle of the river. Be careful here though as behind the wave is a rock cliff in the middle of the river. Most kayakers choose to run left of this as there are 2 nice surf waves down here. If you end up getting pushed off to the right make sure you paddle far right as it is fairly shallow near the rock cliff and there are also a couple of strainers jammed into the rocks there.
The next major surf wave downstream is Pink Mountain which was pretty hard and flushy to catch when we where there. This is located on river left. If you choose to spend some time here you can park and play by walking up the side of the bank to put in again for multiple runs of this wave.
There are a couple of eddy lines to watch out you don't get unexpectedly surprised by further downstream but the rest of the run is pretty much a float with the takeout being the bridge in town.
In the afternoon we were both fortunate enough to get a shuttle up to the Kettle with IWE. Dan & I bombed down this run after figuring out where all the surf spots were and both managed to get cleans lines down 'Hole in the Wall' without even getting out hair wet!
Today (day 2) we were again very lucky to get a shuttle with IWE to do the full-day section on the Clearwater River. By doing the full-day we were able to paddle one of the biggest commercially rafted rapids in BC called Sabertooth (be aware it is a lot bigger than it looks from the road!!!), as well as S-Bend and the Middle Canyon.
Sabertooth gets it's name from a rock in the middle on the river which creates a bit of a roster tail. Approaching this rapid you won't be able to see much apart from a huge, meaty crashing wave to the left of this rock. Your pretty much going to be hitting this wave (if you want to get mashed in the meat of it it's up to you) on the right shoulder (and the Sabertooth rock will be on your right). You won't be able to see anything until you get over the peak of this initial wave and you will then be greeted by another large wave. The rest of the rapid is quite boily, and lots more waves but if you get mashed in the meat of it there's no need to worry, just take your time to roll. S-Bend shortly follows this and you can read and run this rapid pretty easily. Shortly after this you will pass the IWE lunch sport marked by a shelter on the right hand bank. From here it's another 20min paddle to the Middle Canyon.
The Middle Canyon is a nice series of class 3 wave trains. The entrance is marked by a creek which comes in on the left and on the centre/right there is a hole. The last rapid in this section is called Shane's Demise and there is a short flat section and you will see the take-out marked by a boat ramp on the right hand side of the river. Whatever you do, do not miss this take-out as 'The Kettle' is below this and is unrunable! The portage is about 1km and you will put in again at a trail leading to the rafting put-in.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend and it was a good opportunity for me to get my new Project 52 out on the water and to catch up with old friends from IWE who I've met throughout my travels in Uganda. Special thanks to Doug at IWE (Interior White Water Expeditions) for allowing Dan & myself get a shuttle up to the river on Sat & Sun.
Also for anyone who's interested the Clearwater Kayak Festival will be held this year July 31st - Aug 3rd 2009 which will include a downriver race and rodeo, preview of Jaunt (a film by Skippy Films), as well as Sweatshop Union playing at the Festival on the Sat night. www.clearwaterkayakfest.com
No comments:
Post a Comment