The Stikine rises on the Spatsizi Plateau in north- western B.C. before squirting violently through the unrun- nable (for mere mortals, at least) 100-kilometre Grand Can- yon of the Stikine. From the bottom of the canyon at Telegraph Creek, Brit-
ish Columbia, to its communion with the Pacific at Wrangell, Alaska, the river drops nearly 1.3 metres per kilometre, a grade that makes it the fastest navigable free-flowing river in North America. Even at our put-in at Telegraph Creek the size and strength
of the Stikine stuns us—a 200-metre-wide channel of silt-lad- en water churns by at more than 20 kilometres per hour.
r
In 1879, legendary naturalist John Muir visited the lower Stikine, calling it, “a Yosemite 100 miles long” whose “views change with bewildering rapidity.” As we leave the drier pine forests of the interior behind and
enter into the granite and glaciers of the Coast Mountains, we understand this to be a great compliment to Yosemite. Here the river becomes a boiling, coffee-with-cream-coloured wa- terway several hundred metres wide. We heed my friend’s ad- vice and stow our paddles, feet dangling over the gunwales in the icy water. Our canoes spin a lazy dance, showcasing a 360- degree panorama of peaks. Te ABS bottom of the canoe hisses through the Stikine’s cargo of silt, and the cool air hints at the scent of pulverized granite in icy water. Bewildering indeed.
A 2 0 0 - m e t r e - w i d e
Tlingit petroglyphs. 26 n C ANOE ROOT S summer 2008
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