The Moyeha River offers a true wilderness experience, with the entire watershed located in Strathcona Provincial Park and lacking any trails, development, or logging. Although the steeper whitewater is reportedly not good, the lower reaches are runnable in a packraft. Even though everything can be portaged, a minimum of class III skills is required to catch eddies above unrunnable rapids and avoid numerous logjams. Expect to spend two days bushwhacking and portaging to enjoy one day of floating out, through a beautiful old growth forest down to a pristine estuary.
Flows
Look for the Gold (GOLD RIVER BELOW UCONA RIVER (08HC001)) to be around 100cms off snowmelt for a medium low kayaking level on the Moyeha, which can usually be found during spring snowmelt in May or June, depending on the snow year. 50cms on the Gold should be adequate for packrafting.
Shuttle
The shuttle is 5 hours each way, so you are going to want to find a shuttle driver or two. Start the hike at Jim Mitchell Lake, just beyond the Bedwell Lakes trailhead in Strathcona Provincial Park, found past the south end of Buttle Lake by branching off BC Highway 28 NW of Campbell River. Takeout is by chartered water taxi from the Moyeha River mouth to Tofino, at the terminus of BC Highway 4.
Hike In
From Jim Mitchell Lake at 650m elevation, route find up to one of several passes into the Moyeha drainage, topping out at 900-1000m elevation in the subalpine. The steep south facing descent will meet the river at 350-400m elevation. It's pretty likely you will have to keep hiking downstream along the small braided stream to a large pond at 250m elevation, before considering paddling much. The bushwhack in generally takes 16 hours of travel time to cover ~10km of route distance.
Paddle out
From the pond at 250m elevation, the Moyeha drops into a steep section formed by landslides and huge rockfall boulders. A kayaking trip reported this section to be class IV-V with several portages, not very clean whitewater, and lots of wood. A game trail starts on the river right side of the pond, beginning a big portage of 1-2km, but good luck following it. Rejoin the river wherever you feel comfortable with the decreasing gradient. Eventually, this section tapers off from class V all the way down to class II gravel bars. But wait, there's more: a few bedrock ledges that are not good to go, but can be portaged at river level. From the confluence of Kowus Creek down to the estuary is beautiful class I-II.
Flows
Look for the Gold (GOLD RIVER BELOW UCONA RIVER (08HC001)) to be around 100cms off snowmelt for a medium low kayaking level on the Moyeha, which can usually be found during spring snowmelt in May or June, depending on the snow year. 50cms on the Gold should be adequate for packrafting.
Shuttle
The shuttle is 5 hours each way, so you are going to want to find a shuttle driver or two. Start the hike at Jim Mitchell Lake, just beyond the Bedwell Lakes trailhead in Strathcona Provincial Park, found past the south end of Buttle Lake by branching off BC Highway 28 NW of Campbell River. Takeout is by chartered water taxi from the Moyeha River mouth to Tofino, at the terminus of BC Highway 4.
Hike In
From Jim Mitchell Lake at 650m elevation, route find up to one of several passes into the Moyeha drainage, topping out at 900-1000m elevation in the subalpine. The steep south facing descent will meet the river at 350-400m elevation. It's pretty likely you will have to keep hiking downstream along the small braided stream to a large pond at 250m elevation, before considering paddling much. The bushwhack in generally takes 16 hours of travel time to cover ~10km of route distance.
Paddle out
From the pond at 250m elevation, the Moyeha drops into a steep section formed by landslides and huge rockfall boulders. A kayaking trip reported this section to be class IV-V with several portages, not very clean whitewater, and lots of wood. A game trail starts on the river right side of the pond, beginning a big portage of 1-2km, but good luck following it. Rejoin the river wherever you feel comfortable with the decreasing gradient. Eventually, this section tapers off from class V all the way down to class II gravel bars. But wait, there's more: a few bedrock ledges that are not good to go, but can be portaged at river level. From the confluence of Kowus Creek down to the estuary is beautiful class I-II.
