Mediocre Kayaking

July of 2004 Erik Schertzl, Eric Bissette and myself drove up to the Clearwater in BC. The clearwater is about an hour north of Kamloops, and is a trib of the Thompson River. From what I gathered there are several runnable sections of this river, and some mention of some park and huck waterfalls. The stretch that we did is located just outside of Well's Grey Provincial Park. You put-in just few miles of upriver from the town of Clearwater and then float down to the town.

The run starts off with a couple of big water class III-IV rapids that are very fun. The river then mellows out and has some fun catch on the fly waves. Then you arrive at the main attraction - Pink Mountain. We were there when it was at 3.25 and 3.0 on the Bridge in Clearwater. 3.0 was a nice level for Pink Mountain.

Matt on Pink Mountain at 3.0

The camping was pretty sweet, but it was a little out of the way like 30 km up a dirt road out of the way. Although it was scenic and secluded.

Camp site on the Clearwater

Here's a pic of another spot that was roadside upriver from the put-in of the main run. I think this is called the whiteroom. It was fun, but I'd like to see it at a higher water-level. It may have some serious potential.

Bissette at the whiteroom

The Clearwater is definitely worthy of a mission, and some future exploration. Note to self don't leave the Clearwater at a prime level to go run the Nahatlatch at low-water...it's not worth it.