Tag Archives: South Thompson River

Reflections on Paddling Upriver

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The North Thompson River rises in the glaciers of the Premiers Range west of Valemount, flows east to the Monashees, then is steered south and down the North Thompson Valley.   Many rivers flow into it – the Albreda, Mad River, Thunder River ,Blue River, Mud Creek, Raft River, the Clearwater River, the Barriere River, Jamieson Creek – and many other streams and creeks.    It flows steadily south to Kamloops at 3-4 km/hr.   It is joined by the South Thompson River in Kamloops, the outflow of Shuswap Lake and all its feeders.    Starting from Kamloops, the paddler can paddle either river upstream for days north or east, but few will choose to paddle upstream for more than an hour.   Its hard work above all.

But we do choose to paddle upstream every week:

  • We embrace the challenge as a strength and endurance workout.
  • While we are still fresh, we find a steady rhythm of strokes, without a break until our turn-around point.
  • We pick one side of the river for the way up, and the other side for the way down.
  • The first half is all concentration, a focus on precision, balance, and finding the aerobic threshold.
  • The second half, on the flow downstream propelled by the current, is easy, meditative, a reward for all the hard work upstream.

Paddling the South Thompson River

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One of the easiest put-in points is at the Pioneer Park boat launch.  There is lots of parking, a good launch site, and easy access into the river but there is one drawback.   In the warm weather it is a crowded and noisy spot – not a great launch site with power boats, jetskis, and way too many vehicles.   Except in full flood, the river can be paddled upstream fairly easily, especially if you stay on the south side.   Up the river to the end of the Gregson Trail and back is a good paddle.

 

Another good launch spot is the Valleyview Boat Launch just on the west end of Thompson Drive.   Again you can paddle upstream and back, or if you have a two-vehicle system, you can paddle one way down the river to Pioneer Park, or beyond to McArthur Island or even the airport seaplane port.    An enjoyable paddle is to launch at either the Lafarge Bridge on the north side or even the Pritchard bridge (north side) and paddle downstream to any of the points noted.    On my last three paddles, lots of geese and ducks were nesting on the shoreline, eagles perched on tree branches watching the river, swallows soared over the banks and I enjoyed seeing all of the riverfront homes on the river.