In winter, the shorelines along the North and South Thompson Rivers expand as the river recedes. We can pick routes along the rivers for a winter beach walk. We parked on Harrington Drive and walked down to the river. From the gravel banks on the river, we turned north. We continued north on a narrow path and along the gravel …Continue reading…
Each spring we try to paddle downriver using 2 vehicles to shuttle our kayaks. On the South Thompson river we have 4 days of paddling: Chase to Pritchard (21 km) Pritchard to Lafarge (21 km) Lafarge to Pioneer Park (21 km) Valleyview to Cooney Bay On the North Thompson river, we have 4 days of paddling too: Clearwater to Little …Continue reading…
Paddling upstream is always a good workout and part of a spring fitness program, getting ready for longer paddling adventures on the bigger lakes, the rivers, and the ocean in the summer. One route we do every spring is to go up the North Thompson River, which is a bit harder than the South Thompson River. I launched at Pioneer …Continue reading…
In late October in Kamloops fall colours adorn the riverbanks, especially on the North Thompson River. I launched at Pioneer Park and paddled downstream to the confluence, then turned upstream paddling steadily against current to the Halston Bridge and back. This same route was paddled in March (Up the North Thompson) and will be hope to return in early spring …Continue reading…
When we paddle early in the season. we paddle upriver then return back down to our launch spot. The South Thompson is the easier river to paddle upstream, but we also go up the North Thompson River too. We launch from Pioneer Park and head down to the confluence, then we use the rudder to take a sharp turn at …Continue reading…
We launched our kayaks at North Thompson Provincial Park and paddled downriver to Kamloops over 3 days. We spent our first night on an island in the middle of the river. Clearwater to Kamloops Downriver Chu Chua Cottowoods Provincial Park We launched in the morning on the second day and stopped for a break on one of the many …Continue reading…
On a recent paddling trip from Clearwater to Kamloops, we explored islands in the middle of the North Thompson River and camped on them during a 3 day journey. At the end of the first day of paddling we landed on the final island of Chu Chua Cottonwood Provincial Park. BC Parks describes the park as follows: “An area of …Continue reading…
Paddling our rivers is a matter of picking the right launch and landing spots, the right date and time, and the right weather. We launched our boats at the end of Harrington Road next to the Golf Course in Westsyde. This spot is a good spot from March through October. We could have chosen to launch off the end of …Continue reading…
A good early-season paddle is to launch at Pioneer Park and paddle down to the Confluence of the two rivers, then take a sharp right turn right to go up the North Thompson River. It is never an easy paddle upstream, but we look for the slowest water on the river, crossing back and forth, sometimes progressing quite slowly. This …Continue reading…