Pigeon, |
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| Name | Range | Updated | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| PIGEON R BL POWER PLANT NR WATERVILLE, NC | 1200 - 2500 cfs | 00h29m | 2170 cfs (rc= 0.7 ) |
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This is a great break from the summer heat for many regional boaters. The put in is located at
the Walter's Hydro-Plant, the Big Creek confluence in Waterville. Look for the many many boaters.
Also, before you put on please sign in at the hut with the Cocke County Constable. This is not
necessary, but it helps with their study about outdoor tourism to the area.
The rapids from the put-in to the bridge are the mildest of the trip. Many beginners take out here. The most popular play spot on this section is Razor-Rock, mile .5 on river left. Here, many people learn to do their first cartwheels.
Below the bridge, the rapids increase with difficulty, but never reaching above class III+. The first play spot is Snapdragon, a twenty foot wide hole at low levels, becoming a wave at higher flows. Playground is a few rapids below. Today, both Snapdragon and Playground are park-and-play by many.
Below there, Lost Guide has the largest obsticle on the river. In the middle of the river is a large sticky hydraulic that should probably be avoided by most beginners/intermediates. Most run it on river right to avoid the hole. Rollercoaster is the next rapid. The first wave can be enjoyed by longer boats.
There are several more rapids after this, and then you reach Hartford.
Walter's Power Plant also releases during the winter and spring occasionally. I've found a lot of these "off-season" releases to be towards the end of the day. The number for Pigeon information is 1*800*899*4435
| Name | Range | Updated | Level | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIGEON R BL POWER PLANT NR WATERVILLE, NC | |||||||||
| usgs-03460795 | 1200 - 2500 cfs | 00h29m | 2170 cfs (rc= 0.7 ) | ||||||
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| When | River/Gauge | Subject | Level | Reporter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pigeon [Tn] |
Christy looking mean at Double Reactionary
|
n/a | paul podgorski | |
| Pigeon River [NC] |
Double Reactionary
|
1350 cfs | David McConnell | |
| Pigeon [TN] |
(MN) The ultimate shuttle vehicle.. when its not broken down
|
n/a | Mike Nail | |
| Pigeon1. Walter's Power Plant at Waterville to Bridge at Hartford [ ] |
VCC on Pigeon
|
n/a | Kyle Nicholson | |
| Pigeon River [TN] |
Pigeon River
|
n/a | Chris Gorman | |
| Pigeon River [TN] |
The Dragon Baby
|
n/a | Daniel Talley | |
| 2y132d05h43m | Pigeon [TN] |
Accelerator Sneek
|
n/a | Timothy Flanagan |
| Mile | Rapid Name | Class | Features (Legend) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5 | Snapdragon |  |
(iCal)
River Alert
State News
River Links
NWRI - Pigeon 1. Walter's Power Plant at Waterville to Bridge at Hartford (mobile)
User Comments
how to "read" the data that you get. The number is 1-800-899-4435, you want the walters (?) lake
level and in-flow. This is posted at 8am every morning. what I was told (and seems to hold true) is
when the in-flow is over 400-500 cfs the lake fills up around a foot an hour. If the in-flow is
this high or higher and the lake is 1 to 3 ft down then they will release at least some. That said
it relates to the weather, summer dry, no rain= no release. Winter, fall or spring and rain is
forcast the you are a go. The higher the in-flow the better your chances are. I lived there for
over 2 yrs and have been skunked by looking at the take out and saying it runing lets go. They can
and will cut it off at anytime, exp. if they see you attempting a moon light run. That has been one
of the best things I have done in a boat (raft, wish I was in my Kayak). Hope this helps. Edit
home in the spring and summer months, and spend as much time playing on that river as working. This
spring, thankfully, we have gotten a substantial amount of rain, and it seems as though a couple
rapids have changed. The biggest change that has happened this season seems to be the bottom hole
of Lost Guide, the first class IV rapid, about 3 miles from the put in. It seems that some rocks
have moved, making the bottom of the rapid steeper, and also making the hole more of a hydraulic,
and less of a wave. This has become a GREAT surf spot, for both kayaks and rafts, with a huge eddy
on the river right side, just below the hole. Its easy to paddle into, and super easy recovery
below the rapid. This has become the best surf spot on the Pigeon by far, hope everyone enjoys!! Edit
after hurricane Ivan in 2004. There is now a 20-30 ft long steel beam in the middle of the rapid
right after lost guide (rooster tail). Also there is new hole about a half a mile up stream of lost
guide river center which rafts will catch on the fly. I've heard it called "last chance" or
Chewey's coffin", not much fun for hard boaters but watch out for floating undercuts! Happy
paddling Edit
through the rapid. There are a ton of rocks and you're practically holding your breath the entire
swim Edit
reasons and for safety reasons.It starts off right away with power house. If you want to make it a
challenge catch the eddy behind the big rock on river left. Than you have some boogy water until
you get to razor rock where you can get some pretty big enders. Than you get to vegamatic, all that
is there are big fun waves. Next you get to snapdragen. Be careful to stay up here it's really
shallow. Then you get to lost guide which is probably the hardest rapid on the river. Just go right
to left to stay away form a hole and a rock that splits the river into 2 sections. Than you go to
roster tail which is just waves. Than you have the flat water part of the river. The next rapid is
called double reaction area. You really don't want to hit the pour over unless you want a head
twister. The finally rapid is called Accelerater. You want to start right then head for river left
than back to river right at the very end. At the very end you have some little stuff than you're
down. Edit
whitewater or outdoor enthusiast will do there part in fighting the renewal of this permit. The
Pigeon River is at stake.
FYI,
an alternate line at Lost Guide is to run far right (about 10 ft from the river right bank) and
then cut left after passing the hole.
At Accelerator, start river right at a small curling wave and cut diagonally left across the rapid.
For the post about Maytag be careful running this hole. Ther is rebar in the hole and it can do
some damage. Rooster Tail does have rebar in the hole. I have been a guide on the river it is
there. Edit
a local rafting company manager was in a shredder yesterday with us three hardboaters and he
pointed out new rebar lying lengthwise in the playhole after LOST GUIDE RAPID. It's normally called
"ROOSTER TAIL RAPID" -- the next rapid after LOST GUIDE. I didn't know its name but he said that's
what everybody calls it. The rafting mgr said they normally allow their customers to jump and swim
this normally safe rapid but now with the rebar they can no longer do that. He pointed out that if
someone were to roll at this popular playhole it could do some serious damage to one's head. I
skirted the meat to the right yesterday and was fine. My two friends from Knoxville ran the meat
and were fine. It was about 3000 CFS so we didn't really see it but the mgr. assures us that at
regular flow it's visible and quite a problem. So, he requested that we spread the word to all
hardboaters: "Catch an eddy way before ROOSTER TAIL if you swim LOST GUIDE and it's probably best
to not play in that wonderful hole anymore." You can still run the meat of the rapid and not get
hurt --- well as long as you don't flip in the meat.
By the way, the bottom hole at the Rooster Tail rapid is still good to surf, the top hole is the
one with the rebar in it.
He also said that the river widened a bit after the floods and therefore the Pigeon holes aren't as
good as they used be.
as well as the play immediately below this. The hole at the bottom of Guide Sucker is good, not the
ledge, but the hole next to the rock. There are tons of holes to hit on the fly. The waves at
Rollercoater are gone as well. Still lots of fun but it is "The Dirty Bird!"
awesome river you definitely should! Lots of fun, pillowy water that can treat you well if you give
it the respect it deserves. When you get to Hartford, don't get out! There's some fun ledges below
the traditional take out that can be a lot of fun to play on. Oh yeah, and Maytag near the lower
run's takeout! Pretty fun rapid with a pretty munchy hole! This river has improved tons in recent
years about people should support an environmental victory! If you're ever in East Tennesee you
have to get on this river and try it out! Happy paddling!
It was created when the folks building
I-40 blasted out part of the river bed.
Thus, it's an unnatural rapid. being
upside down in your boat here is real
bad, as the natural angular cleavage of
the rocks in the area and the blasting
combined make for a rather chaotic
river bed. I've run the hole here a
whole lot of times (I was a guide
there), and it is frequently run by hard
boaters. But for pete's sake, hit it
straight. There are a lot of nasty little
obstacles just below. if you want to
avoid the hole, I would suggest setting
up more center. There's a green
highway that will take you straight
down.
Oh, and at lower flows, running the
cheat line on the right in the Guide can
almost be harder and more
dangerous from a flipping stand point
in the hole. That side is real shallow,
and I've seen a number of head
injuries there from boaters who rode
down underwater. Hit the hole straight
and you're golden.
Powerhouse rapid, the first ww after the putin, is a 100 yard stretch of solid Class III. Just
after that is Full of Water, a short Class III drop that is playable.
Lost Guide is a Class III rapid with a Class IV slot (raft line middle, just left of the pourover).
I've seen kayaks and people held and recerculated in the hole and a number of commercial rafts flip
there. The hole isn't as sticky now as it once was 5-6 years ago (spring floods shifted the rocks
there) when a raft guide had to be resusitated on the rock just below the rapid.
The other 2 rapids which, along with the Guide, constitute the Big 3 on the Pigeon are Double
Reactionary and Accellerator and you'll find them around 3.5 miles down. On Double, the entire
river is pushed through a 15-20 foot slot on river left, where Tombstone rock creates a 4-5 foot
curling wave to the right. There is also a hole in the entrance that slows you down before getting
to the curler. The rapid is III+/IV depending on level.
Just after Double, on river right, is a great P&P surf spot for advanced paddlers called Super
Glue. It's very surfable, but there is great potential to smack the rock that causes the hole if
you flip...quite a few teeth have been lost there.
Accellerator is about 75 yards after Super Glue. It is a 25 yard stretch which loses 12-15 feet of
elevation, with a river wide horizon line. The kayak line is right-to-left, skirting the Class IV
President's Hole at the bottom. The raft line is to barrell over the hole. The good thing is either
way you will hit it with a lot of speed. The bad thing is it is the worst swim on the river
(Powerhouse is bad, too, but the rock aren't very sharp...Accellerator is lined with some cutters).
There is also significant foot-entrapment risk here.
Summer releases are usually between 1,000-1,200 cfs which is pretty tame. If you get the chance to
go 1,800 to 2,000, it'll be a pushy, fun ride. 2,500 and up starts washing out the drops but still
makes for a fun raft trip.
BTW, the river has really made a lot of progress returning to health in recent years. According to
TWRA it is again supporting a significant fish population and is on par with most other area rivers
as far as pollution levels (thanks for your work, AW!!!). However, it still has a brownish tinge
and some suds from the Canton, NC papermill releasing color into the water.