Little Pigeon, West Prong
2. Chimneys Picnic Area to Campbell Overlook (Picnic put-in - [Lower])
| Difficulty | V |
| Length | 2.4 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 320 fpm |
| Gauge | West Prong Little Pigeon R Nr Gatlinburg, Tn |
| Flow Rate as of 29 minutes | 53 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | March 12, 2024 |
River Description
Picnic is no picnic.
This section, although not as steep as 'Trailhead', still packs a punch and gives you more river miles. The West Prong is 'one big rapid' in a sense where you find the channel with the most water in it and go with the flow. There are a few named rapids and places in the river to note.
First Island: Stay left here. Not much rapid wise, but this is where most of the water goes and it is usually free of trees.
Second Island: Much more complicated than the first island. Here you go right. The entrance is somewhat of a boil, but managable. There are several drops back to back, the biggest one involving a hard boof right, followed almost immediately by a boof on the left.
Boof Right/Cave: This drop is in the center of the river. Ride the rock, but don't stall or boof too hard right. Get to river left after the slot to avoid the mini-cave on river right.
Skywalker: Entering slightly center left/left is the prefered line for the top drop here, followed immediately by a big ole rock in center of the river. Go left of this rock. At higher water this drop can also be run on far river left through smaller drops.
West Prong Falls: Shortly after Skywalker is WPF. Several lines exist. Some take a far river right line that ends in a vertical 8-10 foot slot boof. Another line is to run center where the falls have more of a ledge look to them. Beware that there is a large rock just under the surface on the left side of the center line. Far river left should be avoided entirely.
Amtrack: The entrance to this rapid is quite long and ends with an exciting boof. The best lines are seen when boofing center to slightly center right. The drop is close to 8 feet and is followed by a river wide hole and several strange undercuts to be avoided. Luckily there is a large pool to gather your belongings below.
Room Without a View: Just around the corner from Amtrack is Room Without a View, the grandfather and climax of the Wes
...River Features
Put In
Top of 1st Island
First Island
Watch out for these overhanging trees as of 6/25/06, they caused much adversity.
?
Watch out for this difficult rapid early in the run.
Second Island
Boof Right/Cave:
As of March 2024 may have changed. More water is going river left, making the right side boof very tight. Have a look if in doubt.
Usually run by starting on river left or middle of lead-in boogie water and moving strong right, with a hard boof to the right as photo shows. Lands next to a big rock that extends up into center of river as a pinch rock that makes you do this far right boof. This rapid is why elbow pads exist.
Skywalker
West Prong Falls
Amtrak
approx. 7 foot drop, long class III+ lead-in; easy to stumble into. right side boulder is undercut, collects some wood.
Room Without a View
Bitch
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportJim JanneyWestern NC Creek Visuals
20m ·
West prong ran 3 days in a row so we got to experience both ends of the flow spectrum. New usgs gauge is fantastic. Taking off when the gauge is 350 gives a decent low level. Like 1.2-1.3 on the semi defunct picnic gauge. Taking off at 675 was about as much as I wanted and was 2.0 on the picnic gauge. We only got on the lower but wood was in good shape. Only problematic wood was catwalk and Skywalker.
Jim Janney posted the following on BoaterTalk on 9/6/2011. http://boatertalk.com/forum/boatertalk/1052308782/.
Subject: West Prong Wood Report.
It's probably in the best shape it's been in for a good while.
Nothing on the upper until big tree (that's right, metal box is open again), which has a pile of trees across the bottom. Not sneakable until some flossing is done, but the tree blocking the main line is serious. The pile of logs in the picnic section is still there. Lower was all runnable but there is still the wood at cave, a log below skywalker, and a pungi stick in the center line at WP falls (still runnable center but right is open again too).
Visual level was 1.35 when we got there at 5, and 1.3 when we passed the gauge at 6:30. This was pretty much minimum and felt like 1 ft from the last few years. Online gauge was about 1.85 around 6:30.
Jim
bare minimum
minimum
See more pictures of the WP on my Smokies page.
Good level on one of the best runs around
From Boatertalk:
Forum: BoaterTalk
Re: Altitude confirmation needed. Attn Bradley LVM New
Date: Mar 08 2004, 14:23 GMT
From: deluge
Road prong is 1100ft (1.9 miles) from putin 1/4 mile above greenlight falls. If you go from here and do west prong all the way down to last take out (below in a hurry) that is just about 3000 feet of drop with no portages (unless you want). If you did road prong from third bridge it is .6 miles and about 300-350 feet. upper west prong is 700 feet (1.7 miles) from foot bridge to 441 bridge. 441 brige to last take out is 3.3-3.5 miles and a little over 1100 feet. Campbell over is a mile less.- howard
third time down it, with virgin friend. low water and long, than on over to big creek.