Wilson/Fitzstubbs Creek

Contributed by Richard Maggs
What It's Like
A beautiful class fun paddling destination for all skill levels.
Class
III-V
Scouting / Portaging
Scouting is easy. Portaging is difficult and involves ropework on some of the upper sections.
Time
Approx 1 hour per section.
When to Go
All spring
Gauge
5.88cms↓ (Nov 20 23:15)
5k Put in:
Runnable almost anytime the Kuskanax gauge is over 10. Look for flagging tape on the left side of the road just after you pass the 5k marker. Hile down the well hidden trail to the bottom of the canyon. Put in here for continuous class 3 fun regardless of river level. Can get pushy and continuous at high water but the main flow is always good to go. Watch for the sharp igneous bedrock in the first few rapids. It’s been known to murder boats. 

7k put in: 
Runnable whenever Kuskanax gauge is over 10. Look for the obvious pullout/parking spot on the left after 7k on the road. Park here and hike down the obvious trail to the put in. Enjoy read and run class 4 boogie with boofs galore all the way down. Theres a couple holes on this run but they're all easily avoidable. Follow the main flow and watch for wood. 

13k put in:
Runnable when Kuskanax is between 10 and 30. This section is mostly class 3 boulder gardens with two bigger drops near the end. The first large drop on this run forms a pretty ugly weir that gets scrapey on the right while both technical and consequential on the left at high water. The second drop is a pushy boulder garden/chute thing that pings around an s-bend through a canyon. The second one is difficult to portage. Class 4 on the lower end of runnable. Class 5 on the upper end. 

18k Fitzstubbs creek put in:
Runnable when the Kuskanax is between 10 and 30. The put in is a slightly hidden atv trail around the 18k mark. A wonderful full day adventure for early spring or mid summer. Warm up on 2k of nice class 2. At the first horizon line scout left or right. The right line is a manky flake that will try to flip you. The left line is either a fun boof driving left-right for a sweet reconnect autoboof or a huge obvious flake far left. I’ve heard of people portageing on river right with some ropework. Beware the chossy rock on river right. 

Enjoy some 500m of read and run class 2 before the next bedrock ledge. Run the first ledge and eddy out left to scout before the rapid goes around the corner to the right. This triple set of rowdy reconnects can be portaged on the left though the trail is falling off the cliff above the third in a few places. Boof the first one centre. Do a sweet wall ride on the left of the second before reconnecting to boof the flake. Run right off the centre autoboof to avoid the wood-filled death pit on the left of the third. Enjoy class two from here on to the confluence with Wilson creek just after the 13k put in.