Bellingham Whitewater

Big Silver: The complete story.

Posted by Chris on September 11, 2007 at 6:48 am | In Trip Reports, Movies |

Big Silver seems to have been in the back of the minds of a few boaters for a long time. A small section of whitewater and a waterfall or two may have drawn some paddlers to the area, but for the most part it seems that most boaters just haven’t made it a priority. Due to the lack of flow information and the fact that it is a 3+ hr round trip from Hwy 1 up a nearly dead-end road its almost understandable it had been overlooked for so long.

Big Silver Creek from CHRIST on Vimeo.

After the last successful mission exploring the upper canyons with Hale Hanaway, Ryan Bradley, Erik Schertzl, and Todd Gilman, I have had a hard time containing my excitement while waiting for the flows to receed back to boatable levels. Needless to say when there was talk of a 4 day B.C. road trip, Big Silv was at the top of the list.

The crew was Matt Thomas, Erik Schertzl, Hilary Neevel and I. Matt, just starting a 2 month vacation from his new life in Cali., was all fired up to check out the run we’ve been spraying about the last few months. As eager as I was to experience paddling the upper section in 2 hours instead of 2 days, flows in the area were not looking too good. We decided to take the gamble and head up anyway, we figured at least we could huck Morning Wood falls then race over to the Squampton zone for a quick ride down Callaghan creek.

Upon arrival at the gauge bridge, Our suspicions were confirmed: The water level was definately low. I had seen this flow before and knew that the falls would go and if people were motivated the upper canyon would be low but could be run. At this point we ran into James (the prof.) and Brad, a couple of Seattle area kayakers that had been in the Nahatlach zone and made the rough drive over the Kookipi/Shovel pass that morning with hopes to meet up with us for a run.

I cannot say enough just how rad this zone is, when you get to the bridge over the middle gorge you are just getting a small glimpse into the beauty of this area. When you put on the upper run the scenery will blow yer mind.

Swimming hole above the falls. Photo by Erik Schertzl.

Morning Wood Falls. Photo by Matt Thomas.

We got to the falls and a quick scout revealed a small change from earlier this season. It was hard to say what happened for sure but some logs at the lip of the falls had definitely washed out and allowed the toilet-bowl-wood-choked-30ft-deep-sieve part of the drop to become more exposed, requiring an extremely precise line to clean the falls. A few of us contemplated this line for a little while but we all ended up seal-launching into the pool below.

Hilary about to drop the first ledge in the 1st gorge. Photo by Matt Thomas.

The first rapids before the gorge were holding water surprisingly well and after a partial portage of the manky entrance rapid we were all dropping off the sweet 6ft entrance ledge and enjoying the scenery.

The next couple rapids were definately low but each one had runnable lines and we were making good time and having fun. We even managed to run one rapid that we portaged the 1st time down.

Hilary running the last rapid of the 1st gorge. Photo by Erik Schertzl.

Shorly after the 1st gorge we arrived at gorge #2, one of the most scenic river gorges I have had the opportunity to experience. This place is beyond words and has some great rapids to boot. After the 1st few drops we entered the “Crevice.” At normal flows the “Creviceâ€? has a pretty solid flow moving through it, this day with the low flows we were able to paddle up and down between the narrow walls and take in the magnificent sight.

The Crevice. Photo by Erik Schertzl.

Another shot of the Crevice. Photo by Matt Thomas.

After paddling past Gold creek we were right on top of the triple drop. Triple drop starts with “Wayrad McGnarly� named after Ryan Bradley who probed this sick drop. Next is “Voodooed,� 2 people ran this drop backwards after trying, and failing, to catch a innocuous looking eddy on river right just above the main flow, in which one boater got momentarily pinned fully underwater. Take a close look at this drop before running it.

“Wayrad McGnarly�. Photo by Matt Thomas.

Below here are a few more class IV drops in what may be the longest, straightest, box canyon in B.C., at least that I know of. Its a good thing the rapids are not too hard because your attention may be focused less on the whitewater and more on the scenery at hand.

The straight, 2nd canyon. Photo by Matt Thomas.

Boaters in the straight canyon. Photo by Matt Thomas.

Another beautiful place in the straight canyon. Photo by Matt Thomas.

Be sure and take-out at the entrance to the 3rd gorge.

It only takes driving on the bridge over the middle gorge and looking up, and downstream one time for you to ask yourself “What the f— is down there?�

View into the middle gorge. Photo by Matt Thomas.

Hanging out on the bridge. Photo by Matt Thomas.

Ryan and I had done some scouting on the middle gorge during high water earlier in the year and discovered a amazing triple falls which we couldn’t stop talking about for the past few months. After seeing the waterfalls and the rest of the rapids we knew there was another great run on Big Silv to get sorted out. The big question was what flows were needed to paddle this section.

After a wet night camping near the take-out for the middle, Matt, Erik, Hilary, and I ate a big breakfast and made some tactical decisions for the weekend. Since the flows on the upper were low we decided to take a look at the flows on the middle and see if it was something we would tackle on this trip. Just moments before we were about to hop in the trucks and do some scouting 3 subarus pulled up with creekers on the top, it turns out Ben, Evan, Lane, and Lizzy had seen the footage of Big silver on The Range Life and had come up to check out the area.

As things would have it we joined forces and did some scouting, ultimately deciding to run the middle.

After putting on at a impressive pool, we paddled through some amazing low-walled class III-IV slot canyons and into the steep section of the middle gorge. We made good time through the rapids just above and below the bridge, but, just out of sight of the bridge things picked up significantly.

Put-in pool. Photo by Matt Thomas.

We ran a pretty stout series of fast, sloping ledges and holes just above a 15ft slide, which was the last runnable rapid above a mandatory portage around a 25ft decapitation falls. During our pre-scout we thought we might run this falls but, once on top of the falls at river level, a quick glance revealed a horrible sieve/decapition cave in the middle of the drop.

Ben deep in the middle canyon. Photo by Matt Thomas.

We did a crazy portage under the rock I am standing on. Photo By Matt Thomas.

After a sketchy 20 ft seal-launch around the 25 footer there were a few nice rapids and more great scenery before the triple falls.

Lane scouting the triple falls. Photo by Matt Thomas.

We spent a good bit of time scouting the triple falls and decided to portage the 1st two falls, they appear to be runnable, but the line is tight, real tight. The easy portage around the first 2 falls will reward paddlers with one of the sweetest 20 footers around “La Termina falls,� if you go here, bring your camera. The next 1/4 mile is fun class IV-V all the way to the take-out.

The Lower run is 6KM of mostly class III and IV whitewater with some class II and a sweet split falls called “Divided we fall,� which can be scouted from the road on the way up. There are numerous put-ins but one should plan on running the split falls and taking out just a short distance below. Beware of the marginally runnable falls just below the split falls and portage on river right.

Lower gorge. Photo by Hale Hanaway.

Chris Boofing “Divided we fall.� Photo by Hale Hanaway.

I encourage boaters to head up to Big silver during the spring run-off or winter rains when flows on the Stave river are around 20-50 cms. And remember to bring Lester your recyclables at the end of your trip…you can’t miss his place at the mouth of the river.