Little Pigeon, Middle Prong

If it weren’t for all of the nearby high quality whitewater, this cool and fun run would probably get paddled more frequently. And it makes an excellent Plan B if you get high water skunked on The Greenbrier reach that ends just inside the park boundary. For our run, the traditional Greenbrier visual gauge on the US 321 bridge pylon was running 3.3 and the Richardson Cove Gauge was around 5.0 ft, both had just passed their peak and were starting to come down. I considered that to be a medium high flow, but others might consider it getting pretty high. This pushed two of the bigger rapids into the class III+ range and one had an optional class IV line if you wanted to spice it up. I could see how this run could be appropriate for paddlers who have a limited number of class III rapids on their kayaking resume, but higher flows like this are probably not a good idea with limited class III experience.

ACCESS: This is a bit of a challenge. We were looking to shorten things up a little bit since we were on an afterwork run. But there are pretty much zero pull-offs on the narrow Hwy 416. Other places have a very steep bank leading up from the river that would definitely require ropes to get your boats up. Then other options looked like blatant trespassing. So we used the pull off at the confluence of Webb Cr where there were stone steps down to the river. We took out at the Richardson Cove Rd bridge. The Richardson Cove Baptist Church across the street from the TO had posted “no parking” signs. But there is a pull off ¼ mile upstream on Richardson Cove Rd where you could park a car. Then after your run, one person could walk up to get the car while others wait with boats at the church (assuming that quickly loading boats isn’t considered to be violating the church’s “no parking” sign).

Most of the bigger rapids cannot be seen during the drive up the road. The first class III/III+ comes just downstream of the first bridge and is pretty obvious from upstream. At our medium-high flow it was fairly easy to enter left and cut back toward the center. But the far left exit of the rapid was a little undercut and had some dangerous wood jammed in it. This is where prior class III experience is advisable, especially at higher flows. Also, there are houses very close to the banks on both sides of the river and the owners may not be stoked to see people out of their boats while scouting or portaging. The other class III’s are also pretty obvious from above as well and I don’t remember seeing any very nearby houses at those locations. The last one comes pretty late in the run which makes the lack of a higher up take out more worthwhile. This probably won’t ever become a “classic” or a “destination run”, but it’s a pretty cool option for local-ish boaters looking for something new or more experienced boaters who have been chased away from other runs by high-than-desired flows.