British Columbia White Water

This past weekend, a group of 5 paddlers drove up the east coast of Vancouver Island to explore a largely unknown watershed: The Memekay River. The Memekay River is situated on northern Vancouver Island, close to the town of Sayward. It flows into the Salmon River upstream of the Island Highway. Shayne Vollmers from the VIWPS raised awareness that micro hydro threatens this watershed with 2 applications for diversion dams on the main stem and on the Middle Memekay.
Braden Fandrich, Shayne Vollmers, Chris Mennel, Steve Rogers, and Jan Dettmer went to the Memekay system to film a documentary about an exploratory kayaking group to raise awareness of the Micro Hydro issues in the province of British Columbia.
The weather conditions were less than ideal with a lot of snowfall and cold temperatures. Nonetheless, in the 2 days that we paddled this system, we completed 2 exploratory runs of the steepest sections of river. We found 2 sections of river with absolutely spectacular scenery in this scenic free flowing system. Massive old growth tree, including some amazing cedars, bald Eagels, prime fish habitat in this pool drop river. We saw Elk and found signs of other wildlife throughout the canyon including a large den under an old growth cedar tree.
The low water levels made the kayaking bumpy but with appropriate water levels, the Memekay system would provide fun intermediate whitewater through drop pool canyons. Kayakers use the term “pool drop” to describe a river that has calm pools, mainly characterised by gravel bottoms and clear water, and rapids that seperate the pools.