We have had the downriver paddle from Clearwater to Kamloops in our plans for a few years and we made the decision to do it, regardless of weather.   I was fortunate to find someone else to join me (thanks Greg) so we made our plans and packed our drybags.   Nels came along to see us off and drive the vehicle home and we packed our boats on an August day on the river at North Thompson Provincial Park.

The first day of paddling was 37km.   Much of the 5 hours of paddling was on wide-channel, faster water, but there were several spots where the river broke into several shallow channels and we had to pick one and take our chances.   I used the GPS to pick the widest channel and for the most part, this was the best way to go.

We had picked a first night camp spot on and island in Chu Chua Cottonwoods Provincial Park.   We went down the east side looking for a good landing and camping spot.   At the last beach in a chain of islands, we landed and set up camp.

On one side of the river is the highway and on the other side, the CN track so we chose to pitch our tents on the east side on the wide gravel/sand bars, exposed in August.

The Dunn Range stands over the northeast shoreline and we had wide views in every direction from our camp.

Some scattered showers fell to the south and a rainbow appeared over the Barriere hills.

I went for a walk/hike to explore the islands of the park.   The center of the island was very dense with cottowoods, shrubs, and tall grasses, but the channels between the islands offered access routes.

Although we could have paddled longer that day, it was better to temper our effort for the next days of paddling too.   Also, much of the appeal of these longer paddling journeys is to spend time on the shores of the river.

The only tracks we saw were from deer and there were no signs of any human activity on these islands.   In June there would be no beaches or exposed gravel bars so we were pleased to land on and walk some of these along our downriver journey.

Days two and three of the downriver paddle follow in a post two days hence.