British Columbia is without a doubt one of my favourite places to kayak. It has absolutely everything you could ever ask for as a kayaker, world class creeks of varying difficulty, big water runs, a big wave, and unforgettable scenery.

Double drop on Britania Creek (Photo Scott Feindel)

I’ve been to B.C. a few times before but was really excited to spend a good chunk of the summer there, paddling some of the classics that I’d heard so much about as well as some runs that I didn’t even know existed. I spent the majority of my time in Squamish with a quick stop in Revelstoke along the way. I was very grateful too hook up with Bryan Smith and the range life crew early on in the trip, it’s always nice to have local beta and insight on what the best bang for you buck is and Bryan was always spot on and very enthusiastic.

A little slide action on the Jordan River in Revelstoke (Photo Scott Feindel)

We started with the Whistler classics, aka Callahan and Upper Cheakamus, which were running at optimum levels after unseasonable amounts of rain. Our first run down the Callahan was awesome with Bryan as our guide and plenty of water to pad things out. The smile didn’t leave my face the entire run and all I could think of was how amazing it was that this was what they considered a medium/high level…I think I actually told everyone at least five times how sweet it was! (anywhere else it would have been considered very high)

The Celebrity in Squamish, the old girl did good (Photo Scott Feindel)

After these runs dropped out I got to do the creeks that I had really been looking forward to doing, Tatlow Creek and the Ashlu. Tatlow creek is one of the coolest runs that I’ve done to date. It has a couple of the most unique drops you’ll find anywhere that for the most part you bomb off totally blind and almost everything is good to go with a decent pool at the bottom. The access and hike in made me wonder what I was getting into but every time I thought something was a lot of work I’d run a sick drop and forget about all the bad.

One of my favs, the double drop on the Ashlu (Photo Scott Feindel)

It’s not new news that the Ashlu is under going Micro Hydro construction and since this is probably the last year that it will be free flowing I really wanted to get on it. My prayers were answered and the box canyon came in a few days before my trip ended.

Kelsey Thompson