North Cascades River Expeditions

Story Time

edited by Jerry Michalec
Story Time features true, never before published accounts of river adventure. I wrote the intitial offering in 1987 following one of my four best all time expeditions from a 28-year career. I hope you'll enjoy it. Check back for another chapter of Story Time!

Fear of the Super Natural:
Running BC's Taseko River and
Lava Canyon of the Chilko

An end of summer trip to the well-known Thompson River in 1982 included a stop at Bernie Fandrych's boating shop. I asked Fandrych to recommend nearby rivers. He graciously suggested the Lillooet River. Canoe Routes British Columbia, by Richard and Rochell Wright, covered the Lillooet, as well as some other exotic sounding rivers. These included the Taseko and the Chilko. I bought the book, grew to love the Lillooet, dreamed of the Taseko, and silently vowed to stay out of Lava Canyon of the Chilko.

That 1982 BC trip culminated in our first run on the Lillooet. September is a low water month in Washington State, yet the Lillooet swelled with 8,000 cfs. What kind of place were we in? Skookumchuck Rapid, which the Wrights called a class 3 to 4, was a quarter-mile long, with enormous exploding waves, an 8-foot drop through a 30-foot opening bounded by rock headwalls, and no downstream rescue area for klicks (that's kilometers, Yank). Need I add that the glacial water was cold?

I returned to the Lillooet for the next three Summers, making 4 more runs. Several features of the Lillooet intrigued me, raising questions.

Never once did I see another boater. Might British Columbia be a place where a river runner could find true solitude?

The Lillooet had high volume in July, August, and September. Tall, glaciated mountains to its north must be responsible. Shouldn't the rivers which drained north from these mountains, i.e., the Taseko and the Chilko, also have high volumes in late Summer?

Finally, there was the Wrights' classification of Skookumchuck Rapid. I grew up believing class 3 to 4 meant Dimple Rapid on the Youghiogheny. By the Eastern standards I knew, Skookumchuck was a class 5, easily as tough and complex as Double Z on the New, Iron Ring on the Gauley, or Coliseum on the Cheat. Even the macho westerners I had come to know would have give Skookumchuck a solid 4. Yet the Wrights had said 3 to 4. What might the Taseko be like, given that the Wrights called it "continuous grade 2 interspersed with class 4 to 5, and having 3 rapids of class 6?" How, then, should we picture Lava Canyon of the Chilko, with nothing to go on but the Wrights' claim of "many continuous class 5 rapids connected by class 3 to 4 water?"

I probably never would have known if I hadn't stopped talking about running the Taseko long enough to decide to do it. A kayaking friend from Ohio, Jack Wallace, planned to visit in mid-July of 1987. I considered entertaining him with a spirited game of Third Reich. But, I am, after all, a professional river outfitter. So, late in April, I announced to my guides that I was planning a Taseko trip for July 25-August 1.

Tim Miles, a trusted river guide, soon guaranteed that I could not back out gracefully. He arranged the week off from work. My last escape route closed when my wife offered to manage our business in my absence. It looked like I was going to have to go, so I ordered topo maps.

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North Cascades River Expeditions
PO Box 116
Arlington, Wa 98223
360-435-9548 fax 360-435-0796
Toll Free: 1-800-634-8433
email: rafting@cftinet.com

Story Time

Fear of the Super Natural: Running BC's Taseko River and Lava Canyon of the Chilko

Next Page. . .

Fear of the Super Natural:
Running BC's Taseko River and
Lava Canyon of the Chilko