Little Hell's Gate Regional Park isn't a park for camping or RVing or boating, or even fishing. There are no facilities in the park beyond a viewing platform at Little Hell's Gate and a circuitous road with some pretty steep grades leading into it. After a 2.5 to 3 kilometer bounce over the access road one will encounter a small parking area, then a walking path leading to
Little Hell's Gate. There is a nice, large viewing platform with steep railings across the river from the "Gate".
Little Hell's Gate consists of a narrow chasm, no wider than 25 or 30 feet, through which the North Thompson River is forced to flow. It creates a very loud set of very fast moving rapids which extend downriver for around 150 metres (~ 500 feet). At the height of the spring thaw after a winter of heavy snow, the rapids can get quite spectacular.
While river rafting companies offer a trips through the rapids, we doubt that they take place during high water. Little Hell's Gate even seems to be turning into a bit of a tourist attraction, as can be seen in the news item further below.
Little Hell’s Gate
Little Hell’s Gate Regional Park is the perfect picnic spot on your Yellowhead journey, just 17 kilometers north of Avola. Watch in wonder as the mighty North Thompson River narrows and surges through a 9 m (30 ft) gorge, creating seething rapids churning through the narrow gorge. In late summer and early autumn, watch salmon complete a four-year journey back to their spawning grounds, from the viewing platform above the gorge.
Caution: Due to the steepness of the gravel road leading into Little Hell's Gate viewing area, access is restricted: summer to early fall.
Seniors Society tours
Little Hell’s Gate
Sandra Holmes | Oct. 7, 2012
On Monday, Sept. 10 a fully loaded bus of 20 seniors set out on an adventure. Wells Gray Country Seniors’ Society sponsored this trip and the destination was Little Hells Gate Regional Park, just north of Avola.
Long time Avola residents Eleanor and Kevin Deckert met the bus at the viewing platform at Little Hells Gate. Immediately Kevin introduced the group to the sport of geo-caching by sharing a traveling item he had found nearby. He will take the item home, log into the computer and record his find before leaving the item in another cache at a different location for another person to find.
Much oohing and awing was heard as the folks viewed the narrow canyon and imagined how the river had turned itself on its side to rush through. Greg Gregory, a retired CNR employee pointed out the railway barely visible through the trees high above the canyon. He had spent many years keeping the signals working all along this line.
Kevin told the history of laying out the road into the canyon and the construction of the viewing platform. He told stories about rescuing a family in trouble as they tried to canoe the North Thompson River above the rapids. He told about a passenger train out of Blue River, breaking an axle and falling on its side. Being a first responder, Kevin helped to rescue 250 passengers from that remote part of the line. He commented that it was by the generosity of the folks in the area that all were cared for...
From the Clearwater Times