Paddling the Peace River — a Free Guide

In partnership with GeoTourism Canada, Flow North created a paddling guide for the Peace River. The maps and text is available online now (at the bottom of this page). We are also working on a print copy that you’ll be able to order online and buy at local map stores. Please contact us via email if you would like to be notified when the PRINT copies are ready — scroll down for a pdf you can download yourself.

We’ve written this guide to the Peace River to be both interesting and practical. From a practical standpoint, we’ve listed possible campsites, emergency road access, and 119 GPS waypoints for major stopping points, like boat launches, camping or rockhounding sites. The guide includes kml and gpx files as well as custom maps. Some major gravel bars and shallow areas are mentioned, but of course, the river is always changing, so it’s very hard to predict what areas will be problematic and what areas you’ll just float right over. The guide includes an introduction that discusses some trip planning and safety topics. Besides the practical stuff, we’ve also researched the history of the river, its landings and settlements, and included plenty of stories and geology. We know you will find this guide interesting and extremely useful!

To help you plan your trip, have a look at the overview below, read this page about trip planning. The last column of the table below indicates distance paddled if you start in the town of Peace River instead of Hudson’s Hope. Of course, there are many places along the river that you can start from, and you can calculate intermediate distances from the running totals. Guide #1 is about things to do in Hudson’s Hope, the starting point, and the paddling journey starts with Guide #2.

Hoodoos along the bank of the Peace River (near Taylor, BC)


Right side of “the Gates” near Hudson’s Hope, BC

Guide # Starts at Ends at Places along the way Road access at the starting point? km paddled km from Hudson’s Hope km from Peace River
1 Hudson’s Hope Hudson’s Hope W.A.C Bennett dam, Peace Canyon Dam yes 0 0
2 Hudson’s Hope Halfway River Lynx Creek, Gates, Farrell Creek yes 38 38
3 Halfway River Island’s End Bear Flat, Waterfall, Cache Creek yes 32 70
4 Island’s End 101-km Campsite Site C dam, Old Fort St. John, Taylor, 3 bridges no 31 101
5 101-km Campsite Driftwood Campsite Beatton River, Raspberry Island, PR Corridor Prov. Park no 32 133
6 Driftwood Campsite Cotillion Rec Area Clayhurst Bridge, Pouce Coupe River, Clear River no 32 165
7 Cotillion Rec Area Many Islands Park Beverly (Deadman’s) Island yes 40 205
8 Many Islands Park Pratt’s Landing Montagneuse River, Carter Camp yes 41 246
9 Pratt’s Landing Fort Dunvegan Ksituan River, Dunvegan Suspension Bridge yes 28 274
10 Fort Dunvegan Camp Island Green Island, Long Island yes 42 316
11 Camp Island Tangent Park Kieyho Park, Peace Valley Guest Ranch yes 36 352
12 Tangent Park Town of Peace River Mackenzie Cairn, Strong Creek Park, several historic sites yes 24 376 0
13 Town of Peace River Graham’s Flat Rail, highway and DMI bridge yes 32 408 32
14 Graham’s Flat Peace Island Encampment Island, 30-mile well no 25 433 57
15 Peace Island Sunny Valley Whitemud River, Cadotte River yes* 34 467 91
16 Sunny Valley McCracken’s Flat Kulyna’s Flats yes 38 505 129
17 McCracken’s Flat Notikewin Provincial Park Horseshoe Bend yes 42 547 171
18 Notikewin Provincial Park Beaver Campsite pipeline crossing, nice beach yes 33 580 204
19 Beaver Campsite Cigar Island Big Bend no 32 612 236
20 Cigar Island Old Carcajou Howard’s Landing, Carcajou, Wolverine River no 33 645 269
21 Old Carcajou La Crete Ferry Campground Armstrong Flat, Buffalo River, Keg River yes* 31 676 300
22 La Crete Ferry Campground Horse Point Le Fleur’s Post, rockhounding, Horse Island yes 32 708 332
23 Horse Point Aspin House Area Moose Island, La Crete Landing, Etna’s Landing no 36 744 368
24 Aspin House Area MacDonald’s (Wieler’s) Landing Hungry Bend, Gooseneck Point, Prairie Point no 40 784 408
25 MacDonald’s (Wieler’s) Landing Fort Vermilion Big Island, Lawrence Island, Highway bridge, Buttertown yes 28 812 436

HTML Table Generator

yes* = Road access is not exactly at the starting point, but is there is access nearby (explained in detail in the guide).

**LINKS below are under construction. I apologize for the delay! The entire guide is such a big file, I have divided it into 3. Refer to the chart above to see which guides you need. There are a still a few small problems with creeks and small rivers not displaying properly when displayed on some computers. It’s a weird problem… Anyways, here you go! Thanks!**

Download the first 9 Guides (31 MB, PDF file) Download the KMZ file (for Google Earth) Download the GPX file (for use in a GPS device)
Download Guides 10-17 (21 MB, PDF file) Download the KMZ file (for Google Earth) Download the GPX file (for use in a GPS device)
Download Guides 18-25 (23 MB, PDF file) Download the KMZ file (for Google Earth) Download the GPX file (for use in a GPS device)

One Response to “Paddling the Peace River — a Free Guide”

  1. Canoeing in Northern Alberta – Experiencing the Province from a Different Point of View | Germanews Says:
    May 21st, 2024 at 12:37 am

    […] their trips beforehand. Teresa Griffith of Flow North Paddling Company has created an incredible paddling guide for the entire length of the river. It is available as a free download on her website and includes […]