Our route up to Hihium Lake was from the southwest, so we drove west on the Trans Canada Highway and then turned north onto the Deadman Valley Road.   The narrow and sometimes Hihium FSR climbs steeply out of the valley onto the upper plateau, which has been heavily logged and planted.   The road was reasonable and we noted signs for Sky High Lodge along the way to help make decisions at intersections.   Anyone who takes this road may want to be prepared for active logging or fallen trees.   From the Deadman Valley turnoff to Hihium Lake was about 20 km.   A short, rough road leads to the Hihium Lake South Recreation Site (watch for signs).

The Hihium Site has 17 camping spots and a boat launch area.   We launched out and paddled the lake on a warm day.

The east-west oriented lake lies at 4491 feet (1369m).   The east end and west ends are marshy.   The outlet is at the west end where Hihium Creek runs down to Loon Creek.   This is a fishing lake so there are 3 fishing resorts on the lake and a few seasonal cabins on both sides of the lake.   About 80% of the shoreline is just high country forest.

There are a few isthmuses and points to help sheltered paddling if the winds come up.   We had only light breezes, but anyone who ventures up there to paddle should check the wind forecast first.

Sunny skies with fluffy clouds make for a great day of paddling.   The 12 km route should take about 2.5 hours of steady, rhythmic paddling in a kayak.

We chose to return by the main road into Hihium.   We drove on a good gravel road north to a junction, then turned west on a rougher road down to Loon Lake and down to Highway 97 (60 km) then back to Cache Creek and Kamloops.   The better road is to continue over to the Chasm Road, but this is a long route from Kamloops.   With such a long route an excellent choice would be to stay overnight at the Hihium Recreation Site for 2 days of paddling and exploring.

Every year we paddle downriver to Kamloops.   The South Thompson River from Chase to Kamloops can be done in 3 legs – Chase to Pritchard, Pritchard to Lafarge, and Lafarge to Pioneer Park.   We organize a pick up behcile at the end so we enjoy the river as it runs quickly in freshet.   We paddled downriver from Lafarge to Pioneer Park at the end of May with the river swollen with meltwaters from the Monashee Range to the east (article on the sources of the river).   Our route follows the corridor between silt cliffs of an ancient glacial lake

There is a good hand launch spot on the northeast side of the Lafarge Bridge.   We launched out into the river in our seaworthy ocean-style kayaks for a 3 hour downriver paddle.

The gravel bars are covered along this 21 km route in freshet.  We had a tail wind and a good downstream current making for easy paddling.

The weather was good, but thunderheads were starting to form to our west.   When paddling in the area, it is almost always better to paddle in the morning before afternoon winds start.

We were able to maintain about 8 km an hour downstream on this day with favorable winds and good conditions.   We will be paddling the other 2 legs this spring and then we will paddle downstream on the North Thompson River.   We paddled all the way from Clearwater to Kamloops last year (link).   There are launch spots and landings for 9 different routes of downriver paddling with Kamloops as the epicenter.   Not many cities have these kinds of opportunities so we take advantage of the opportunities by doing most of the legs each year.

We paddle into the Floodlands in freshet each year.   The meltwaters from the North and South Thompson Rivers expand to fill the riverbanks and raise the rivers considerably in May and June.   We enjoy launching from a small parking area near Tranquille once the river rises enough to clar the grazing fences.   The area is part of the BC Parks Tranquille Wildlife Management Area.

Willow “islands” stand above the floodwaters in Tranquille Bay.

The Thompson River, the flooded areas, and Kamloops Lake merge into one body of water in freshet.

On a windless day the hills reflect in the river offering a wide optical illusion.

We paddled across the river and up channels on the south side, quiet “bayous” where muskats, river otters, herons, and painted turtles can be spotted.

On the way back across the river, the hills surrounding the river and lake reflect into the floodwaters.

From the middle of the 1.1 km crossing of the river is a wide perspective on the hills surrounding the floodlands.

The return route into Tranquille Bay aims for the ragged slopes of Mara Mountain.

Of all the paddles in our area, this one is the finest, available each year only during freshet.

The first day of paddling on the river was in February and the last day will be in November this year.   When we paddle early in the season, the river is cold so there are some things we can do to make the experience more reasonable.

1. Check the weather forecast in the last 24 hours.   Wind is the critical issue.   Pick wind-free days which are few, but on many days the winds don’t arise until about 11:30 in the morning, a result of warming of the hills in the valley.
2. Paddle parts of the river that have a good hand launch with close parking.   The best two local choices are Pioneer Park and Valleyview Boat Launch.  McArthur Island is only suitable for higher water conditions.   Riverside Park and Harrington Road are okay, but we have to haul the boat from the parking areas down to the beach and back.   The South Thompson is an easier river to paddle upstream than the North Thompson.

3.   The sit-on-top style of kayak or open hull kayaks (like the Costco ones) are not as warm as the traditional style kayaks.   Either way, we want to wear a good sprayskirt in the early season.

4. Warm hands make a big difference.   We keep our hands dry and wear paddling gloves.   There are overgloves (pogies) available, but they are needed on the ocean where spray is a factor, not on the river in town.

5. Dry feet help too.   Usually at least one foot has to be in the water to launch the boat.   We wear neoprene boots for this.   We have seen people that use rubber boots to launch, then change once on the water.   Some paddlers leave their boat partly in the water, get into the boat, and use hip thrusts to move the boat off the beach into the water (this works).

6. Since the water is cold, we definitely don’t want to capsize so we only use very stable boats at this time of the year.   Although we can perform self-rescue, we stay closer to the shoreline and if we did capsize, we would pull our boats to the shoreline right away.   In general, we avoid turbulent water early in the season.

7.  Wear a good paddling jacket.   There are paddling-specific jackets with latex rubber gaskets for the neck and arm sleeves.   These keep the paddler dry, but the jackets are expensive so some type of layering can also be used.   We don’t use wetsuits or dry suits on the river, but if we were crossing a big lake, we would.

8.    Some kayaks have good seats that don’t get cold in cold water, but if the seat is just plastic, an inflatable pad (Thermarest makes these) works well.

If we can stay warm and dry, paddling in the early season is a nice experience and best of all, there will be no one else out there but the ducks and geese.