Circle Tour - From East to West
Kleena Kleene

All roads except for Highway 20 are gravel. You should be sure to check on local conditions before embarking on your trip.

HOW TO GET HERE: Vancouver to Williams Lake is 548 km (341 miles). From Williams Lake turn west onto the Chilcotin Highway 20 and travel 250 km (156 miles) to Kleena Kleene. From Bella Coola travel the Chilcotin Highway 206 km (128 miles). If you are coming by air, Pacific Coastal Air flies into Anahim Lake a half hour away. Check schedules.

Kleena Kleene (year round population about 15) is bounded by the Klinaklini and McClinchy Rivers. Located along the Chilcotin Highway 20, 151 miles (242 km) west of Williams Lake and 14 miles (23 km) west of the community of Tatla Lake. Snuggled between Ts'ylo-s Park and Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, Kleena Kleene offers many beautiful photographic opportunities. Mt. Ts'yl-os is also known as Mt. Tatlow.

There are many hikes and sights in the area. Good fishing is from June 1 through mid September. The Klinaklini River offers good fishing, and nearby One Eye Lake and Big Stick Lake are both good for fishing, boating, canoeing, and even good swimming!

Plan to visit Perkins Peak, the northernmost part of the Pantheon Range, where an old mine is located and the 360 degree vistas are breathtaking. It is easily accessible by car nearly all the way to the peak at 9,250 feet. Wildflowers there are spectacular around the second week of July. The turn off is about halfway west of Tatla Lake, towards Miner Lake. Devote at least 4 hours to this drive/hike.

The Klinaklini Falls are just 7 km off Hwy 20, a relatively easy hike, but devote about 2 hours to this outing. This is bear territory. Be sure to take protection and be “Bear Aware”. Bring clothing for any extreme in weather for while it may be very hot during the day, summer nights can bring a frost.

There are many other hikes and easy trails in the area, but if you are interested in seeing the area from a different perspective, make arrangements in advance of your visit to take in flightseeing tours, horseback riding and extended alpine horseback trips, guided hikes, kayaking, canoeing, etc.

One operator on Clearwater can arrange heli hiking trips into the nearby Waddington, Mt. Queen Bess, Niut and Pantheon Ranges. Another ranch operation would be delighted to give you a working ranch holiday, take you out on trail rides into the alpine, arrange flightseeing tours into Tweedsmuir Park and the Rainbow Mountains, set you up at a fly-in outpost camp for some private fishing, or simply arrange for fishing and canoeing on Clearwater Lake. All can arrange for day trips to Chilko Lake, Tatlayoko Lake, or the two hour hike to Kleena Kleene Falls.

“On your own” activities include bird and wildlife viewing, fishing, swimming, photography, looking for wildflowers, biking, nature walks, strolling along the Klinaklini River, sunrises, sunsets and stargazing, exploring, practicing your rustic cooking skills, reading, board games, and just relaxing! Check on the events calendar at chilcotinchatter.com for local activities and events taking place in communities from Riske Creek to Bella Coola.

The little known Klinaklini River that winds its way through this area is only about 200km or 125 miles long but it drains a huge area comprising several mountain ranges before emptying into the Pacific Ocean at Knight's Inlet, and only after squeezing through a wild and impossibly narrow canyon. Considered to be one of the major rivers of the Coast Mountain Pacific Range, it provides for an amazing ecological variation. As a result, wildlife abounds the length of the river from Bald Eagles and Trumpeter Swans to moose, deer, wolverine, cougar, wolves, grizzly and black Bears.

Except for its humble beginnings at a tiny lake near Perkin's Peak where it winds down to One Eye Lake, and then at Knight's Inlet, the Klinaklini River is mostly inaccessible except to heli-hikers and fishermen, and heli-rafters. The river's wild course and huge volume of water allows for rafting on Class III to Class V water, however, in some places like the impassible Klinaklini Canyon, a helicopter will have to take you around.


Operators - Kleena Kleene, Clearwater Lake