The Cheakamus River (pron. CHEEK-a-mus) is a tributary of the

Squamish River The Squamish River is a short but very large river in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its drainage basin is in size. The total length of the Squamish River is approximately . Course The Squamish River drains a complex of basins in the ...

, beginning on the west slopes of Outlier Peak in

Garibaldi Provincial Park Garibaldi Provincial Park, also called Garibaldi Park, is a wilderness park located on the coastal mainland of British Columbia, Canada, 70 kilometres (43.5 mi) north of Vancouver. It was established in 1920 and named a Class A Provincial ...

upstream from Cheakamus Lake on the southeastern outskirts of the resort area of Whistler. The river flows into Cheakamus Lake before exiting it and flowing northwest until it turns south and enters Daisy Lake. Between the outlet of Daisy Lake and its mouth, much of its length is spent going through Cheakamus Canyon, where the river flows through swift rapids and even one good sized waterfall. The river flows south from the lake and through the canyon before joining the Squamish River at Cheekye, a few miles north of the town of Squamish. The river's name is an anglicization of the name of Chiyakmesh ("people of the fish weir"), a village of the

Squamish people The Squamish people (Squamish language, Squamish: ''Skwxwú7mesh'' , historically transliterated as Sko-ko-mish) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Archaeological evidence sh ...

and a reserve of the

Squamish Nation The Squamish Nation, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw () in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Sníchim (Squamish language), is an Indian Act government originally imposed on the Squamish (''Sḵwx̱wú7mesh'') by the Federal Government of Canada in the late 19th cen ...

. The c. 70 km (c.44 mi) length of the Cheakamus is followed by British Columbia Highway 99 (the

Sea-to-Sky Highway Highway 99 is a provincial highway in British Columbia that serves Greater Vancouver and the Squamish–Lillooet corridor over a length of . It is a major north–south artery within Vancouver and connects the city to several suburbs as well ...

) and the

British Columbia Railway BC Rail is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Chartered as a private company in 1912 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), it was acquired by the provincial government in 1918. In 1972 it was renamed to the British ...

. The Cheakamus is a

whitewater rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

and

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

route, and is known for its

steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and N ...

and

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

fishing. Much of the flow of the upper Cheakamus is diverted from Daisy Lake beneath the mountains to the west to the

Cheakamus Powerhouse Cheakamus is an anglicization of Chiyakmesh, the Skwxw7mesh language name for one of their villages, now located on Cheakamus Indian Reserve No. 11. Cheakamus may also refer to: *Cheakamus River *Cheakamus Lake Cheakamus Lake is a lake in Garibald ...

on the Squamish River. Notable just north of Daisy Lake is Brandywine Falls. The Nordic events complex of the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

was located on Callaghan Creek, a tributary of the Cheakamus just upstream from Brandywine Creek.

Largest tributaries

* Callaghan Creek and

Callaghan Valley The Callaghan Valley is located in the Sea to Sky Country of southwestern, British Columbia, in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains 90 km north of Vancouver. It was the home of the 2010 Winter Olympics's Whistler Olympic Park, the venu ...

* Brandywine Creek *

Cheekye River The Cheekye River is a river in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It flows west into the Cheakamus River and north of Squamish, British Columbia, Squamish. References

Rivers of the Pacific Ranges Sea-to-Sky Corridor New Westminster La ...

Cheakamus River derailment

On August 5, 2005, a long

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...

train, heading inland from Brackendale, derailed and nine empty lumber flat cars along with one tank car of

sodium hydroxide Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaOH. It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations and hydroxide anions . Sodium hydroxide is a highly caustic base and alkali ...

crashed off the main bridge, falling into the river. The tank car spilled its contents into the river, killing an estimated 500,000+ fish. Six years later, a local Vancouver News channel reported on the return of the fish to the river.

References

{{authority control Canyons and gorges of British Columbia Sea-to-Sky Corridor Rivers of the Pacific Ranges New Westminster Land District Rivers of British Columbia

Largest tributaries

Cheakamus River derailment

See also

References