Having a good handful of go-to spots means we get to pick the flavour of each trip. Every stream or lake we've been to has a different quality and character. Some are downright arduous (looking at you, McDougall Creek), and some are almost too laid back. Once you're familiar with a variety of places, you can determine which are most feasible given the weather as well as the amount of people in your group and their skill level.

With a smaller group, our most recent trip to Steeprock was a gamble as thunderstorms were in the forecast all weekend. But it is one of those perfect rivers that strikes a good balance between challenge and allure. If The Pine is the mother river, Steeprock is the divorcee father...

...And it looks like he's got his kids for the weekend!