Chilko - Bidwell to Taseko

The Chilko is one of the most remote but accessible rivers in BC. The water is so clear the river shines blue the whole way down until it meets the milky water of the Taseko at the takeout which is a glorious sight!

From September 1st -> October 31st 2021, the Chilko Newton Road was closed south of Henry's Crossing. to protect the Grizzly-Bear population, this is upstream of the Bidwell put-in but would prevent you from putting in at Chilko Lake.    This may be an annual closure so please check with the First Nation if you would like to launch at the lake.
https://www.xeni-gwetin.ca/post/for-immediate-release-chilko-newton-road-closure-protects-people-bears

The Rec-Site and the river put-in and access is Title Land belonging to the people of Xeni Gwet'in First Nations.  In times of Covid-19 and extreme fire-risk or on-going wildfires it may be worth contacting them to ask permission to access their land, and ensure it is safe and appropriate for you to be there.  The guardians of the rec site are from the First Nation and were incredibly happy to see us when we happened to cross paths, they said they rarely see anyone at the site and were extremely welcoming.
https://www.xeni-gwetin.ca/contact-us

Getting there:
Make sure you screenshot/print the details, especially the turn-off points whilst you still have service. The roads you will be on will not be marked on Google Maps!

Finding your way to the campground in day-light is significantly easier than night-time.  Make sure you fill up with Gas in Williams Lake, the gas station in Alexis Creek may not be open. For this river trip it's highly recommended to bring a spare jerry-can of gas, a puncture repair kit, and an air compressor. Punctures have happened on both my trips on the shuttle.  You are several hours drive away from the nearest town, and even an hours drive away from the nearest building once at the campground.  No cell-service after Williams Lake and also even unlikely to even run into anyone else the whole time you're up there and you are in Grizzly-bear territory.   A 4WD/AWD is essential for this trip, something like a Subaru Outback the minimum you'd want but trucks are better as you never know how bad a state the road will be in.

Turn off Chilcotin-Bella Coola Hwy at Chilko-Newton Road (2nd left after Bull Canyon Rec Site), reset your trip counter here, after about 1.4km  turn left down Chilko-Newton Airstrip Road, cross over a small river which is confusingly the Chilcotin River, and head through a couple of gates staying on the 'main' road through a farm, if you get to a building you've gone the wrong way. You'll drive by a large agricultural field on your right, keep left at any splits, and then the river will be on your left shortly after this field, don't cross the river itself (there is the Siwash bridge over the Chilko), keep the river on the left whilst you drive down a degrading road, in wet weather it can get very boggy and muddy, but we've got cars through it. At night you will have no idea you're even near the river if you're driving in.

At  about 18km you should see a 'Road Closed' sign, with a left turn down-hill and in 0.5km you'll be at the Chilko-Taseko Junction Recreation Site which is the take-out and one of the most beautiful campsites you'll ever go to. The stars are incredible as you're in one of the darkest places you will ever go!

To get to the Put-in Head back to the Road-Closed sign, turn left, and drive for 24km.  There is one crossing at Bidwell Creek at about 18km where a bridge has been long washed away which can be a challenge for some vehicles.  Once you've gone passed this, and up a hair-pin bend, when the road comes back to the river this is your signal to look for the put-in.  A small clearing with enough space to park a few cars should be obvious. Hike down the short steep bank to the river.

River Level:
Chilko can be run very high and low, some of the best rapids wash out at higher flows so a good flow is somewhere in the middle. High water laps will be much quicker than the shuttle!
70cm/s+ High water
50-70cm/s  Ideal flows
50cms/ and below, low water

The River:
A big volume fun, mostly read and run river but always be on the look-out for wood.  The tricky part is spotting Bidwell from before, it's about 5km into the run, there is kind of a rocky landslide area on the left just before.  Scout on the left, it's a great view, there are some rocks on the left side at the bottom which is the main thing to avoid.  You can run left of the rocks but don't recommend it. Setting safety at the bottom is better.

After 3km of read-and-run fun you'll be at the White Mile rapid,  a big long continuous wave train rapid with a couple of holes which are easy to avoid.

Eagles Claw will be the next rapid of note, which you can scout, there are 2 big holes to avoid normally run right to left. Enjoy the rest of the river which is easier big volume wave trains, a very cool Lava Canyon section, and then towards the end there is a new rapid created by a recent landslide which was great but will probably change a lot whilst it settles in.   

The last part of the river is much flatter and this is where you may be lucky enough to see Bears fishing in the river for salmon.  In July you may find lots of lovely berries along the river banks, sometimes directly from the eddy.

Take out at the confluence with the Taseko, you can climb up on the hill between the rivers for a better view of the milky merging of the rivers.  The Taseko is another fantastic run to do but the shuttle to the put-in is 160km drive from the takeout!

Watch out for wildlife on this run and the shuttle!  There is normally a multi-day section below here, the Chilko River becomes the Chilcotin River about 10km downstream (despite the Chilko being a larger the river, the river becomes the Chilcotin due to the Chilcotin River being longer upstream of the confluence), but due to an extremely large landslide in July 2024 at the time of publishing this guide that section is not recommended.
https://www.bcwhitewater.org/reaches/chilcotin-river