The Chehalis River ( ) is located in the southwest corner of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada near the city of

Chilliwack Chilliwack ( ) is a city of about 100,000 people and in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is located about east of the City of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley. The enumerated population is 93,203 in the city and 113,767 in the gr ...

. It flows south-eastward out of the Douglas Ranges of the

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains () are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the British Columbia Coast, Coast of British Columbia sout ...

, draining into the Harrison River. Though the river's valley is heavily logged—earlier in the 20th century the area was covered by a dense network of

logging railway A forest railway, forest tram, timber line, logging railway or logging railroad is a mode of railway transport which is used for forestry tasks, primarily the transportation of felling, felled Trunk (botany), logs to sawmills or railway stations. ...

s—the river itself flows through a small canyon before a short relatively flat stretch leading to its confluence with the Harrison. The Chehalis is a fishing stream and, together with its tributaries such as Statlu Creek, offers opportunities for class III and IV

whitewater kayaking Whitewater kayaking is an outdoor adventure sport where paddlers navigate a river in a specially designed kayak. Whitewater kayaking includes several styles: river running, creeking, slalom, playboating, and squirt boating. Each style offers ...

. The Chehalis River starts in the mountains above and just west of Statlu Lake, which it soon flows into. Shortly after exiting the lake, it drops over impressive Statlu Falls, which is difficult to view without putting yourself in real danger. People have died when they have slipped and fallen over the falls. After the falls, the river turns south, eventually flowing into Chehalis Lake. After it exits the lake it continues its journey south to the Harrison River. The river's canyon and the peaks and cliff-faces of the range encircling its basin, which comprises most of the area of the Douglas Ranges, is popular with rock-climbers and hikers, who call the area "the Chehalis". There is a small ski resort, Hemlock Valley, on the eastern side of the Chehalis River basin. A road penetrates the northeast rim of the range into the

Harrison Lake Harrison Lake is the largest lake in the southern Coast Mountains of Canada, being about 250 square kilometres (95 mi2) in area. It is about 60 km (37 mi) in length and at its widest almost 9 km (5.6 mi) across. Its sou ...

basin and on to historic Port Douglas, at the head of that lake, and beyond up the

Lillooet River The Lillooet River is a major river of the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. It begins at Silt Lake, on the southern edge of the Lillooet Crown Icecap about 80 kilometres northwest of Pemberton and about 85 kilometres northwest of W ...

via Skookumchuck Hot Springs to Pemberton– Mount Currie. This road, to be named the Sasquatch Highway was proposed to be paved before the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

to connect Hwy 7 (

Lougheed Highway Lougheed is an Irish variant of a surname of Scottish origins, meaning ''head of the lake''. Lougheed or Loughead may refer to: Places * Lougheed, Alberta, a Canadian village * Lougheed Island, Nunavut, Canada * Lougheed Highway, part of British ...

) at the community of Chehalis with Hwy 99 (the

Sea-to-Sky Highway Highway 99 is a provincial highway in British Columbia that runs from the U.S. border to near Cache Creek, serving Greater Vancouver and the Squamish–Lillooet corridor. It is a major north–south artery within Vancouver and connects the c ...

) at Mount Currie. On December 4, 2007, a large

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

entered Chehalis Lake and triggered a

megatsunami A megatsunami is an incredibly large wave created by a substantial and sudden displacement of material into a body of water. Megatsunamis have different features from ordinary tsunamis. Ordinary tsunamis are caused by underwater tectonic activi ...

with a maximum run-up height of along the lakeshore. The wave was tall when it reached the lake's exit point, south of the landslide and continued down the Chehalis River for about .

References

{{Reflist Canyons and gorges of British Columbia Rivers of the Pacific Ranges Rivers of the Lower Mainland Tributaries of the Fraser River New Westminster Land District

See also

References