Seymour River, British Columbia, CA

gorge section

River Description

To get to the put-in park at the end of Riverside Drive and walk up the hiking trail for about a mile until you get to a bridge at the gauge station. There are steps leading down to the river. The run starts quickly and soon you are in a very deep vertical walled gorge. Due to the committing nature of the run it would be prudent to go down with someone who knows the run the first time. Most of the rapids cannot be scouted or portaged with the exceptions being the first rapid, moshpit, and the last one, final exam. Even then only the first half of either rapid can be walked and this becomes difficult at medium and higher flows.

The canyon is quite continous with only small pools seperating long rapids. Be prepared to spend 1-2hours on the river the first time down. Locals can do the whole section in around 7minutes.

There are several mandatory boofs on this run as well as a few sieves. There is one nasty sieve just above final exam on river left but it is easily avoided. The river also collects new trees periodically.

This is an amazing run in a spectacular setting. Don't be fooled by its proximity to the city. It is most definitely a wilderness area and would be very hard to get help in the middle of the canyon.

The takeout is located at a rock outcrop below a house that is perched on top of a bluff overlooking the river. It is roughly 200 yards below the bottom of final exam. There is a narrow staircase leading up to Riverside Drive from the take-out. There is a gate at the top of the staircase and it is locked at some times of the year. If it is locked it might be easier to take out 200 yards farther down at a shorter staircase going up to Swinburne Ave. The fence can be scaled but it is quite tall.

During the summer a permit is required to park along Riverside Drive. In this case use the lower take out.

Also please try and be discrete about getting changed.