A couple weeks ago, I packed up and left the Yukon for Squamish, BC. I'd never boated in BC (except up near the Yukon) before, but what I'd heard, more or less, was, "Your threshold for being scared will going to go way up." Also, "Everything is bigger in BC." Well, after a couple weeks there, there's definitely some truth to it. The rivers aren't necessarily harder, and the local ratings aren't as sandbagged as everyone claims (or my opinions are also sandbagged), but almost every run comes with a level of commitment that is unparalleled by other regions' after work runs.

The Whistler Triple Crown -- the three classic staples of after work boating in the Squamish/Whistler area -- consists of the Soo, the Upper Cheak, and the Callaghan. Only one of these has easy hike in / hike out access (the Upper Cheak). If you had to hike out of the Callaghan or the Soo it'd likely be miserable.

Fortunately, there's no need to hike away from this perfect 20'er on the Callaghan.

The Ashlu Box is another BC classic. Hell, it's even roadside. But, you can't scout or portage the first 5 rapids once you put on. And, frankly, hiking out even at the takeout is pretty brutal -- attempting to do it anywhere else would take hours.

Despite being a committing box canyon, you can rally a run after work and bike the shuttle in under two hours. Locals probably do it in a half hour.

A mere twenty minutes out of the bustling metropolis of Squamish is another "roadside" (on the map) creek called Skookum. Of course, "roadside" in this case means it took us an hour and a half to get from our truck to the put-in. And, during the run, we found ourselves boxed into a couple mini-gorges where we could only scout the lip of the exit rapids...one of which was a picture-perfect 30' waterfall.

Going for the plug on this dream waterfall.

Hectory Darby MacLellan enjoying the bonus drop we got by putting on too high.

Downstream of the 30' comes a bit more low volume mankiness followed by an essentially (read: alternative is a sketchy, multi-hour hike out with ropes) mandatory 60'er with a wide, shallow, lip that lands in a very green eddy before going over a log-infested run-out drop. A couple bloody faces and one broken Werner later, we all made it to the bottom, past the logs, down some very sharp runout slides, and to the takeout, where we enjoyed a fine cigar.

Sam Ricketts on the big'un.

Pete Lodge boofing the perfect thirty.

After a good two weeks, I left Squamish and drove back east by way of the Blackfoot in southern Idaho -- a pretty fun little IV/V creek tucked into the desert that releases all summer for irrigation.

Sam Lowenthal and I routing down Teller Tube on the Blackfoot. Watch out for snakes and poison ivy.

Now I'm back east, excited for Beaver Fest, Gauley Fest, and Moose Fest before I head to Chile for the winter.