Downriver – Clearwater to Kamloops
We launched our kayaks at North Thompson Provincial Park and paddled downriver to Kamloops over 3 days. We spent our first night on an island in the middle of the river.
We launched in the morning on the second day and stopped for a break on one of the many sandbars along the route.
This second section of the journey has many sections of calm water for a longer day of paddling. The hills on either side rise above the farmland benches of Darfield and Chu Chua.
Cottonwoods line the river and sandbars are exposed in August. When we paddled this route in June one year, the water ran fast and there were many side channels, but few gravel bars or sandbars above the water.
The river moves quickly past Barriere and through Fishtrap Canyon. The hills are barren because of the 2003 McLure Fire.
There are some bumpy sections of water through Fishtrap Canyon as we round Mount Goudreau and Skull Hill, offering some interesting and scenic paddling. At the bottom of Fishtrap Canyon there are some rapids and several islands. In high water, there are three islands, but by August they are a single island. There are some small bays and sandy beaches on the west side with campsites suitable for a few tents.
This was our second night of camping, after a 39 km paddle.
The third day was a slower paddle past McLure and Vinsulla towards a canyon north of Heffley Lake.
Although the river seems to be moving slowly, we averaged 8.5 km/hour over the 36 km distance to Kamloops.
The Heffley Rapids are always an exciting paddle, but they are less formidable in August. We stopped at the mouth of Jamieson Creek to scout the rapids and pick a route. We opted for a route to the right and passed through without incident, but we also enjoyed the bumpy ride over a series of smaller rapids over a kilometer distance. Below the rapids, we passed Heffley creek and Rayleigh with grasslands above the communities.
Old log boom poles run down the side of the river in Rayleigh.
We landed in Westysde at Harrington Road, not the best place to haul the boats and gear, but Kamloops lacks good landing/launching spots on the North Thompson within the City’s limits.
The entire journey was about 112km over 3 days. There are many good places to camp on islands in the river so the trip could be done in 2-4 days. We had good weather and little wind so the days were long, but reasonable. Camping on the river is a wonderful experience, one that we will paddle downriver Clearwater to Kamloops again in upcoming years.