STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
 CHILCOTIN-FRASER RIVER ITINERARY

Day One:

We breakfast in Williams Lake at 9 a.m. and discuss safety, the schedule, etc., then it’s off to the river where we arrive shortly before noon. We’re on the water about 1 p.m. and float down towards Hanceville canyon and the bat caves where we will go for a short hike and have lunch. We carry on down to camp at about 5 p.m., unload the boats, set up camp and start dinner. Finish dinner around 8 p.m., and enjoy some special coffees and the campfire.

Day Two:

The staff is up pretty early prepping breakfast but guests are encouraged to relax, unless you are an early bird and need a coffee fix. After breakfast we take down camp, load boats and are on the water around 10 a.m. heading down to Big Creek canyon. Before lunch there’s a hike, which provides stellar views and shows where we’re headed. We continue downstream (class 2 and 3 just below Big Creek) and arrive at our camp for the night around 4 p.m. This camp is full of native culture including pit houses called kekulis that date back 3000 years ago.

Day Three:

We breakfast, break camp and set out toward Farwell Canyon and class IV rapids. We will stop and scout the canyon for a bit, go for a hike up to the sand dunes, and have lunch before we run Farwell. Farwell was one of the original homesteaders in the area dating back to the mid 1800s and much of the homestead is still standing. The Chilcotin Nation has since taken it over and is used primarily for smoking and drying fish. Below Farwell is one of North America’s largest protected California Big Horn Sheep reserves. We camp at Chinaman Rapid Flats where there are hiking opportunities and a great swimming spot.

Day Four:

It’s a big day of whitewater with Chinaman and Big John right off the bat. We break camp and head out about 10 a.m. enroute to Big John, which has towering walls that make it an intimidating entry into the canyon. This is the type of whitewater that the dory excels at - blind corners, headwalls, and large crashing waves for about 3 km. After Big John the valley starts to widen as you get closer the Fraser Canyon. It starts to get very hot down here as you drift through towering canyons of dry desert hoodoos. Big Horn sheep can be seen along the cliffs and on the right side of the river is the famous Gang Ranch, which at one time was North America’s largest cattle ranch and is still one of the largest ranches in the world. We arrive at Churn Creek on the Gang Ranch around 4 p.m. and proceed to break the trip down. We’re back in Williams Lake around 7 p.m.