River#11: Lower Cheakamus River. From 'Raft' to 'Island'. (May 6, 03)
Both the Vancouver and Squamish kayak clubs officially started off their first weekly Tuesday night paddling. I opted to go with the Squamish club to run the lower Cheakamus River in Squamish. Andrew joined me on this trip. We arrived early, 5pm, so we hung out at Wendy's for a while. Later Paul and Gordon came and we headed out to meet Angie, Dave, and Jamie at the take out. Paul has a really cool home made wooden rack at the back of his truck. Imagine a camper shell without its walls. Just the frame screwed securely on the rails of his truck. It can hold about 8 kayaks at the top.
The section we ran was from the "Raft" to the "Island" an easy class II run. There were three more sections downstream until the Cheakamus eventually meets the Squamish River.
Directions: from Vancouver, take highway #1 north and then connect to highway #99 north at Horseshoe bay ferry terminal. #99, a narrow winding road, will take you all the way up to Squamish (about 1 hr drive). For people who want to meet, there are Tim Horton, Wendy's, KFC, and McDonald all visible from #99 as Squmish is a really small town (did you notice I pay attention to food! Yes, I like their chocolate shakes. I'm a chocolate freak!). You need to pass Squamish going further north. Make a left turn at Squamish valley road and keep driving. Next, you'll go over a bridge and see the 'Sunwolf Outdoor Center' on your right hand side. Turn right at Paradise valley road and continue driving. The take out is somewhere on this road. Ok, you'll see a very small turn off on your left hand side. That's the take out and the river is just below. To get to the put-in, just keep driving on the same road until the end where you can't drive any further!
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