Class: IV/V
Quality: 5
Location: Elko, East Kootenays, BC
Trip Time: 1-3 hours
Level: Online gauge, look for flows below 25 cms for the upper
Put – in: 49.296729, -115.106777
Take – out: 49.263685, -115.093782
The Elk is the classic run of the Kootenays. The Elk packs a punch with a number of challenging boxed in rapids, including a 40′ waterfall, all of the course of 2 miles. Runs down the Upper Elk start on the lake in Elko just upstream of the dam. Paddle on the flat water for about 400 meters to get to the dam. BC Hydro wants people to portage on the left and not run the dam so be respectful. A short paddle across the pool below the dam brings you to the first rapid, a long slide. The slide can be run in the center of the main channel, just charge left the whole time to avoid getting pushed into the right wall. If your feeling adventuresome go for the boof line and boof the left channel on to the slide.
After the slide and a small boogie rapid you’ll be at the top of Horseshoe Falls, the first class V drop of the run. Horseshoe has a pushy lead-in to a 10 foot tall ledge. The main flow going off the drop pushes into a cave so the challenge to this rapid is making it out to the right side of the drop. If running the main line and cutting right is too intimidating for you theres a sneak line. Just charge right at the top of the rapid and slide down the shallow rocks safely on the far right side of the river.
Run the class IV rapid just downstream of Horseshoe down the center then eddy out when the canyon makes a 90 degree turn to the left. You’re right at the top of the crap shoot rapid now. This one often doesn’t go well but starting left and doing big delayed boof in the center seems to work best. If you get stuck in the hole don’t swim out of this one because you’re right at the top of Triple Drop.
Triple Drop is the hardest rapid on the river. This rapid is comprised of three back to back drops making staying on line very challenging. The first drop is run on the right. Choose to either eddy out right or try to carry momentum and run the next drop direct. The second drop is a big rolling spout of water thats hard to get a good boof off of. I have the best luck riding on the right side of the spout and doing a delayed right airplane boof. Once you land you’ll probably stall out, if you’ve managed to stay upright, so try and get up some speed to boof the final ledge on the right. A lot of Triple Drop lines end in a beat down in the final hole but if you hang in there you’ll probably fight your way out.
Luckily below Triple Drop is a big pool so even if you did swim rescue would be easy. The portage around Triple is the go to line for most people but requires a lot of effort and turns a lot of people off the Upper Elk. If you want to portage you’ll have to choose from a number of routes on either side of the river. The standard portage route is right above the rapid on the left. Walk along the cliff until it ends, there’s a chain ladder there to make climbing down easier. Climb down and find the best spot to seal launch. If this portage is a bit stout for you you’ll have to take one of the longer ways around.
There is one more class IV boulder garden below triple drop. Make sure you know where to eddy out at the bottom of this one because this rapid leads right into an unrunnable drop and it would be really easy to accidentally run this if you weren’t sure which eddy to get out in. Once you get out follow the ledge your on down stream and it’ll bring you straight to Leap of Faith Falls. If you haven’t already scouted this one you’ll probably want to climb up to the canyon rim to scout the drop. Leap of Faith is a super clean 40’er that lands in a huge pool but theres a pushy lead in and a big 20′ seal launch to get to it.
Once you do the 20′ seal launch your committed to running the waterfall. The seal launch is normally done far right into the big eddy. At high water you can also go off the side of the seal launch but make sure you keep your bow up because its supper shallow there. There’s a few eddies to catch in the canyon above the waterfall if you want to regroup with your buddies. The normal line on the waterfall is to cross the guard curlers and make it out onto the left shelf, then turn and melt down into the fold. The waterfall also gets run on the right side sometimes when the waters low.
It’s also possible to put in just for the Middle Canyon and this section is quite a bit easier. The Middle is also runnable up to 100cms but it is definitely class V at these flows. Unfortunately putting on the Middle involves trespassing on BC Hydro property. The only way down is to scramble down the railroad track down the steep cliff to the power station. In recent years BC Hydro has added several chainlink fences to try to keep paddlers out. Running the Upper and the waterfall into the Middle doesn’t involve trespassing so thats always your best option if your up for it.
Downstream of the waterfall is the first and hardest rapid of the Middle Canyon, Rocket Eddy. Rocket Eddy is class IV+ at low flows and becomes class V quickly as the water rises. The rapid starts off with a long boulder garden. After about 400 meters the river is constricted by several massive boulders. Here you’ll want to move right as your approaching the crux move. Rocket Eddy culminates in a pushy ledge. Look for a tongue center right and try to avoid the undercut wall on river left at the bottom. If you have any trouble in this rapid, don’t worry. The undercut flushes and theres 200 meters of flat water before the next rapid.
After the pool the gorge continues to tighten up and you have two more boulder gardens before your at the top of Corner Pocket. This is the second big rapid on the Middle. You can scout this rapid on the left or just run it all the way on the rock on the left. Theres a big boulder in the center of the ledge making it unrunnable there. A short pool brings you to another ledge runnable on the right or the left. The steep section peters out below this and there’s a huge pool in the tightest part of the canyon.
Below the pool is a series of much easier boulder gardens. There’s actually another access trail to get put on just for this section or as an alternate put-in for the Lower. To find this trail you’ll probably want to hike the canyon rim from take-out until you find a spot you can get down to the river. It’s pretty steep so it might not seem like much of a trail from the top. The most notable of this bottom section of the middle is the first ledge called Super Boof. If you follow the flow in the center of the river you’ll get to a nice rooster tail boof. There’s a bunch of fun lines in these bottom boulder gardens as the canyon opens up so catch some eddies and have fun.
When the river flattens out you’ll see a big beach on river right, this is the takeout. The hike out is awful! It’s worth doing the Lower occasionally to avoid this hike out. The Lowers long and no where near as action packed as the Upper and Middle but its very scenic in its own way. If you opt for the hike out you may want to shed some gear before you start!
The Kayak State 