Pit

PG&E has built a parking area with pit toilets on the hill above the river just dowstream of the Fall River confluence.  Parking spots are limited and there is no room for trailers.

A nice trail leads down to a low weir across the river. It is easy to launch above this weir into a flat pond area. There is gap in the weir on river right that should have a reasonable route. It could have obstacles in it, so always double check. The weir itself is very low and could be scraped over at various points, but trees and bushes grow all across the river below the weir on shallow ledges. Most of the width is obstructed.

The maintained trail ends at the weir but a rough use trail wanders over low rocks and through trees to access the open flat water below the trees.

Kayakers could easily carry past the weir on the trail, but groups carrying rafts would have a more difficult time.

This marks the end of the flatwater and the beginning of the whitewater. Access to the river here is not permitted across the privately owned land (Big Eddy Estates); please do not trespass.

Small boulders form a river wide ledge. There are multiple lines over it, but it might be sticky in spots.  There are good eddies above it. A cheat chute on far left, to the left of a tree offers a more gradual descent.

This is a two part rapid with a tricky end.  There is a fairly steep but open lead in to a big eddy on the right.  The lower drop must be run on the far left because of a sticky ledge guarding the center and right. However a strong curling diagonal wave guards the left and must be punched. This diagonal often typewriters boats all the way across into the rocks on river right where a strong eddy can feed them back into the ledge hole. It caused more problems at 1100 cfs than at 800 cfs.

A long straight, but congested rapid with multiple slalom routes ends with even greater congestion. A line of boulders create holes and boof opportunities across the entire width except for the far right. An upstream line of boulders guards the right side and prevents a straight approach.

A common line is to enter center or left, then when it opens up head down the center. At 800 cfs many people could cut to the right at the bottom between the two lines of boulders to run the clean exit. At 1100 cfs the right cut is much harder and most people charged through the bottom boulders where ever they ended up.

A small spring runs into the river on the left near the end of a large pool. Boaters can paddle up to it to drink and refill water bottles.

The river spreads out and green islands hide the top of the falls. There is a scouting and portage route at water level on the right edge of the falls. A steep clean slide is often run on the right side, as well.

On the left side of the falls there is also a scouting and portaging route.

The so called Fish Ladder, breaks the descent into several smaller waterfalls in a small channel. The landings are tricky on several of the drops. The very bottom drops are portaged if the flow is not high enough. The entrance to the left side channel is separated from the main falls by a large island. The channel curves around the island and ends up back near the base of the main falls.

It is also possible to portage or scout the falls across the island.

This center chute is often run but not successfully at all levels. At 800 cfs one day several boaters ran it. At 1100 cfs the next day only two boaters attempted it, as both got pummeled in the base and swam. Thankfully they were quickly ejected towards shore when they did swim.

A nearly river wide horizon line waits at the end of a fast class 3 section. You can boof the rock in the middle but it all goes.

The outlet channel comes in on river right. It is a straight channel and so provides an interesting view of the powerhouse and the penstocks above it. During release weekends there won't generally be any flow out the channel.

This rapid has a semi-clean route down a rocky bar on the left side and then it curves to the left down a second level. Unfortunately the take out boat ramp is hidden in a side channel lagoon back to the right. You can't run the clean part of the rapid unless you want to continue downstream.

To get to the take out, kayakers scrape and bash down the right edge of the rapid into calm water. They can then paddle upstream into the lagoon. Rafts can try the same but will hang up even more and will likely end up walking the raft through the shallows.

More commonly, rafters enter a tiny side channel that feeds the lagoon and drag their rafts a shorter but still awkward distance into the lagoon.

Take out on river right at the Pit River Campground.