Pigeon Sunday Aug 11th
| River: | Pigeon |
| Skill: | Intermediate |
| Trip Date: | 08/11/2013 |
The Pigeon doesn't have scheduled releases on Sundays, but the lake level was high and there was substantial inflow so we knew that Duke would generate at some time during the afternoon. There are several creeks that enter the 'Dries" between the dam and the powerhouse. Among them Hurricane Cr, Cold Springs Cr, and Big Cr, which can be seen from the put-in. On this morning the natural flow from these creeks was 700 cfs (minimum to run the Pigeon is around 300 cfs)
Wendy and I met up with Joey and Christian at the put-in and looked at the 700 cfs. We were looking forward to a lowish water run and an opportunity to see where the rocks were and their shapes. It would give me a greater understanding of the dynamics of Lost Guide and Double Reactionary. As we had the boats unloaded and were almost ready to put in, all 3 turbines came on at full force. The river rose and we knew that we weren't going to see much in the way of rocks. The flow was 2660 cfs, about double the typical summer release of 2 turbines. We had made many 3 turbine runs before. The lines are pretty much the same, the waves are bigger and the current stronger. The lines change in Double Reactionary and to an extent in Lost Guide (but the kayak line is still there)
A good time (and dry hair days) were had by all. It being a Sunday there were not many rafts.
– Lee Thonus