Story and Photography by Harvey Thommasen
It has been over ten years since I drifted down the upper Dean River from Anahim Lake to Boy Lake, travelling through some of the most beautiful wilderness left in North America.
Boy Lake, the most logical place to meet a float plane for a pick-up, is located in Tweedsmuir Park, approximately 70 km by air from the small British Columbia ranching town of Anahim Lake. I did the float solo, in early September, and it remains one of my most memorable kayak trips of my life - glorious, clear, crisp autum days with fantastic dry fly trout fishing.
Except for myself, and a fellow named AL Cluck (from Aspen, Colorado) who did the same drift in July 19-24, 1980 I am not aware of anyone else who has done the trip. It is a flyfisherman’s dream, fairly easy water, lots of rainbow trout - mostly in the 8 inch to 14 inch range. Squawfish are also present in the quieter, upper reaches. I highly recommend the drift, for experienced wilderness travelers. The water can be shallow in spots so be prepared to get out in a few places to walk your kayak. There are also a few rapids to watch for and portage around, but those are the only challenging sections on the river that I am aware of. (Other than the bears of course. This is grizzly country.)
A 1:50,000 topographical map shows the rapids/small falls clearly and I simply portaged my kayak around them or walked the kayak through along the edges of these spots. What follows is a brief outline of my trip. Let us know how it goes if you choose to do it and remember, of course, that everyone travels at different speeds and has different levels of experience in the wilderness. If you do this trip, you will be taking yourself a long way from help, deep into a wilderness area. In my trip, I didn’t see another human being, until the float plane arrived. Fishing details aren’t provided here. You will find the trout as you go.
Day 1: August 30, 1989
1545 left Anahim Lake. Passed through the Netsadellia rapids at 1615 hours.. At 1645 hours the river turns a corner and Anahim Peak comes into view. At 1815 hours I was passing through Abuntlet Lake -- lots of ducks and geese. I began to set up camp above the first real rapids at 1940 hours.
Day 2: August 31, 1989
Awoke around 0730 hours and started off at 0800 hours. Had to carry all my stuff around the rapids to below some falls. Continued on downstream and arrived at the second set of rapids by around 1530 hours. Set up camp at the mouth of Beef Trail Creek at 1920 hours.
Day 3: September 1, 1989
Frosty morning and clear blue sky. Started off at 0815 hours. Nice view of Anahim Lake. Herons, eagles, ducks, Canada geese, beaver,otter and a large owl were all seen that morning. Arrived at mouth of Far Creek at 1130 hours. By 1300 hrs hit a small set of rapids which were not shown on my topographical map. By 1435 hours hit what appears to be the third set of rapids shown on the map. Had to portage around these. Below this was a very shallow section of water where I had to get out and pull the kayak through Set up camp at about 1830 hours at the mouth of Tanswanket Creek.
Day 4: September 2, 1989
River was very slow and calm, with big loops. At 1230 hours passed by the Cahoose Indian Reserve; by 1330 I believe I was at the Andy Cahoose Meaadow Indian Reserve. At 1400 hours I came across a line that was strung across the river. Unsure what it was for. At 1735 hours I hit the McKenzie Trail where it crosses the Dean River. Set up camp at 1800 hours just above the fourth set of rapids.
Day 5: September 3, 1989
Arrived at Boy Lake. Can tell you are close because of a big burn on the surrounding hillside. Took 15 minutes to paddle across the lake. Was about to set up camp but saw some gigantic, fresh grizzly bear tracks so I changed my mind and paddled back across the lake and set up camp there! The next day a plane from Tweedsmuir Air arrived to pick me up and take me back to Nimpo Lake. One has to pull out at Boy Lake because after this the Dean River drops sharply down through the Coast Mountains - waterfall after waterfall - on its way to the sea, and some great steelheading water.
|
