"This wilderness reserve stretches across more than 520,000 hectares of mountains and alpine meadows, recent volcanoes and lava flows, all drained by streams destined for the Clearwater River.  From its source in Clearwater Lake, the river has over eons carved a deep valley through lava and rock to the Thompson.  Along the way streams drop into the Clearwater River from a plateau that lifts almost vertically above its east bank.  From alpine meadows and tree-bordered lakes, streams tumble down mountain slopes towards the river, bursting suddenly into the valley as dramatic waterfalls, sometimes enfolded by curves of gigantic bowls carved in lava by falling water.  Helmcken Falls is the most celebrated: here Murtle River drops 142 meters, creating the fourth highest waterfall in Canada and one of the most spectacular in all of North America... Below the mouth of the Clearwater, the North Thompson is a broad, powerful river.  The watersheds of both rivers are traditional territory of the North Thompson Band of the Shuswap nation."
 

Excerpt from "Mighty River - A Portrait of the Fraser" by Richard C. Bocking 1997