The Elk – Words by Ben Ghertner
It’s hard to beat a run like eastern B.C.’s Elk River. There’s a good chance you’ve seen photos of Leap of Faith Falls, the super clean 40’er in the middle of a dramatic and picturesque canyon but, believe it or not, that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
The elk has three unique sections of whitewater and at least one of them is running pretty much year round. The upper elk starts below the BC Hydro dam in the small town of Elko, and is only runnable at low flows during the late summer and fall.
After a handful of stout drops the Elk reaches Triple Drop, the hardest sequence of moves on the River. The first two ledges of the rapid often push a paddler off line just before getting to the final ledge, a five foot tall drop into a river wide hole, which then feeds into an undercut wall. To make matters worse the portage is almost as technically challenging as running the rapid itself.
Shortly below Triple Drop is the only un-runnable rapid on the entire elk river, and below that is Leap of Faith falls. There’s a good chance you’ve heard of Leap of Faith and seen plenty photos too. There’s really very few other drops in the world quite like it. To get in below the portage you first have to do a 20’ tall seal launch into a section of the canyon less than 10 meters wide. A short way downstream the canyon opens up into a massive amphitheater with the super clean 40’er right in the center.
Below Leap of Faith is the start to the Middle Canyon. Putting in here is challenging, but doable. However, taking out here would be beyond challenging, so all upper laps end with a run down the middle. The middle is a two-kilometer section through the deepest and narrowest part of the Elk’s canyon and is runnable for a much wider range of flows than the upper. At high water the middle is a committing, world class, big water class V run and at low water it is a scenic and fun, class IV boulder garden run.
At the end of the middle you face a choice between paddling the lower section for another 15 km or hiking out of the canyon on a steep and rickety staircase built by the local rafting operation. If you have the time, I highly recommend picking the lower paddle out. The lower doesn’t have big class V rapids like the upper and middle but it’s a scenic and fun run, with a good chance of seeing wildlife like bears, otters or eagles!
