Slocan River

The Slocan River winds through the lush Slocan Valley before meeting the Kootenay River near Shoreacres. Along the way, it offers one of the region’s most accessible and varied paddling experiences.

The upper stretch from Perrys Backroad Bridge to Winlaw Nature Park is gentle and beginner friendly, perfect for relaxed floats through farmland and forest. The middle section, running from Old Passmore Road Bridge to Crescent Valley Beach Park, introduces faster current and small features that appeal to intermediate paddlers. For experienced paddlers, the lower river toward Shoreacres offers livelier whitewater and guided rafting opportunities. The Slocan River also carries a rich cultural history. For thousands of years it served as a travel and fishing corridor for Indigenous peoples of the West Kootenay region. In the early 1900s, logging operations transformed parts of the river, and remnants of old mill pilings can still be seen today near Crescent Valley, a reminder of the valley’s industrial past.