{"id":35888,"date":"2025-06-17T00:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T07:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/?p=35888"},"modified":"2025-06-03T08:22:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T15:22:32","slug":"the-bedwell-river-a-trip-across-vancouver-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2025\/06\/17\/the-bedwell-river-a-trip-across-vancouver-island\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bedwell River – A Trip Across Vancouver Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was on. The trip of the season: Bedwell River, Vancouver Island. Dates were set, the team ready. May 10<\/span>th<\/span> to 13<\/span>th<\/span> would be our timeframe. Four days to follow the Bedwell all the way to Ursus Creek, a few miles inland from Bedwell Sound.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bedwell River is one of Western Canada’s premiere multi-day runs, with roughly 20 km of Class IV+ whitewater set in Strathcona Provincial Park<\/a>, the oldest provincial park in British Columbia. However, it’s far from the most accessible. Founded in 1911, the park covers 250,000-hectares of rugged mountain wilderness. The river flows out of Bedwell Lake and passes You Creek, where we’d begin our paddle\u2014after a 12 to 14-hour hike in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Running the Bedwell requires a lot of pre-planning and logistics<\/a>. First, the journey starts by hiking from the trailhead near the western end of Buttle Lake. Once the run is complete, you\u2019ll have to arrange for a water taxi pick-up near the Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge, which then takes you back to the nearest town of Tofino.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first recorded descent of the Bedwell was in 2006, during a high snowpack year, in late June, by Shayne Vollmers, Max Fisher, Ryan Stuart and Jamie Boulding. They started on a Friday evening and finished by Sunday afternoon. It has since seen a handful of descents, typically done over three days. We opted for four days, however. This afforded us a more relaxed pace, taking the time to enjoy this amazing zone.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The trip consisted of myself and friends Scott Mcbride, Joe Box and Kiril Plehanov. We picked a date in mid-May, earlier than other descents but in accordance with the low snowpack that year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s in-laws helped with the shuttle drive up to the trailhead, all our gear and boats wedged in one vehicle. We didn’t make far before the first stop. At Lee\u2019s Famous Recipe Chicken on the way out of Campbell River, we ordered to our heart’s delight, using the coming hike as a convenient excuse to stockpile calories.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our goal on the first day was to traverse up and over the lakes and then down the other side to a big slide that comes off the back of Big Interior, where we would camp that evening. This section weaves through old-growth forest that remained untouched during a period when this area was removed from the park. The west coast of the island falls under the traditional lands of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation, and there is archeological evidence of people having lived in this area for over 4,300 years. It is a beautiful place, raw and rugged and wholly British Columbia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n