By Andrea Arnold
Tete Jaune based and locally owned rafting company Stellar Descents was thrilled to offer trips on the Beaver River this past week.
“The window to raft the river varies each year from two to six weeks in duration,” said Justin Hachman, lead guide and owner. “The river needs enough snow melt from warmer temperatures or rain to fill the river and bring it to a commercial rafting level.”
This is the 13th year they have offered trips on the Beaver River. Hachman says it is a great step up from the popular Fraser whitewater trip they run with Class three and four rapids along the way.
“We also run the three to five metre waterfall at the very end of the trip,” he said. “Some of the rapid sections include Boulder Boogie, Spin Drift, Avalanche (two kilometres long), Fluffy Bunny and more.
He hopes to offer the two hour trip that covers 18 kilometres of river for another two weeks or so. After that, they move to the Dore River. Hachman says that the Dore is another step up in classification and the location the use for thrill seeking guests in July.
“We started commercially operating on the Dore in 2020 and it provides eight kilometres of continuous Class 4 whitewater,” he said.
The trip includes two laps of the eight kilometre stretch.
“We often get locals looking to get the “Trifecta” – coming with us on the Fraser, Beaver and the Dore – for ultimate bragging rights,” said Hachman.
Stellar Descents requires a minimum of four people and is open to having solo paddlers join them. They have a local call out list that interested parties can join. Each trip has a maximum cap of 18 people.
In addition to these whitewater rapid rafting trips, they provide scenic floats, whitewater kayaking and stand up paddleboarding lessons from May until September. They cap off the season in September with a six day expedition trip on the Babine/Skeena River.
