Pigeon, East Fork

Ran on 6/6/2018 at ~385 cfs. The bridge gauge at Big East Fork Trailhead was 1.3ft and looked too low to put on there. I had scouted this section the week prior and the bridge gauge was surging between 2.0 and 2.5ft which looked like a great low side of medium level. Hiking up on river left to put on would definitely be worth doing at that or higher flows.

Reading past reports and recommendations on lower flows, we decided to put on at Camp Hope rd. You can scout a lot of the river from Hwy. 276, which parallels the river. Looked super low at ~385cfs so we decided to just take out in the town of Cruso at the bridge across from the volunteer fire department in case it was a scrape-fest. Be courteous and low-key with your parking decisions here.

Immediately after putting on, we were amazed at the water quality. Crystal clear and you could see the bottom of the 8ft deep pools. Great scenery and the river definitely has it's own character. We encountered wood fairly quickly downstream at an island- both channels were blocked. Then we portaged two other places with wood, as well as the two low water bridges. We could easily see them coming, but definitely good to have them on your radar.

This wasn't a horrible first-time-down level, but we honestly couldn't see running it as low as 150cfs, even starting at Camp Hope. We wouldn't recommend going any lower than 350cfs. Maybe the river turns into one small channel at 150cfs? We think the recommended minimum should be raised.

Overall, a great day with lots of fun, fairly continuous, shallow Class II. Great eddy service. . Just keep an eye out for wood. the 3.1 mile paddle took us 1.5 hours.

At ~385 cfs, the bridge gauge at Burnette Cove Rd read 0.8ft.(Our original planned take-out).

In summary, and as mentioned before, I'd love to get back on this at 2-2.5 ft, or 700-800 cfs, for a great class II-III run.