Pitt River (Reach 5, Upper)
| Stretch: | Pitt 5 Dam to Big Bend Rd |
| Difficulty: | Class IV-IV+ |
| Distance: | 4.0 miles |
| Flows: | 800-3000? cfs |
| Gradient: | 81.5 fpm |
| Put-in: | Pitt 5 Dam |
| Take-out: | Big Bend Rd |
| Shuttle: | 5 miles (15 minutes) |
| Season: | Very rare from PG&E release |
| Written: | © 2008 |
So to be completely honest, I did not even know that there were runs on the Pitt until two years ago when the Pitt 1 (Pitt Falls) releases started. And again I didn't know there were more runs on the Dammed sections of the Pitt until this year when it was announced that PG&E would be releasing boatable flows for 3 weeks. Great, so all that was left was to organize a group to go and run the rivers.
Due to the fact that it was snowing/hailing and low temperatures of 25 degrees over night most of my friends backed out. However a small group of us rallied and had a great time. I won't forget the collective "Holy Shit" that we experienced as we paddled up to a river wide surf hole big enough to surf five creek boats with perfect eddy service. Or the ear to ear smiles on our faces on the quality of whitewater to be had. Our only regrets were that we didn't take playboats with us as there were countless catch on the fly holes to surf. A real playground for kayaking that is for sure. Anyways, I would highly recommend this run to anyone looking for something to boat, I really hope releases occur again so I can have another chance to boat this run.
For some general information, there were a lot of rapids, or maybe I should reword that to that the rapids were long and tended to have harder sections with easier sections in between. Only one rapid really felt like it required strong class IV skills, but due to the succession of rapids, swift nature of the water, along with the vegetation blocking the shores, I would recommend only class IV boaters venture to this run. Also, this beta is from a day with 1,600 cfs. And finally, due to the shear number of rapids, and the fact that they tended to be long, I don't remember all of it and giving rapid by rapid would be impossible without more trips down, so this is the basics of the ones I really enjoyed.
Mi 0:
- The very first rapid is a brushy class IV- . It isn't hard, just shallow and brush chocked. We went center/right where most of the water was going. This was followed by some fun boogie water.
Big One (IV-IV+). A rocky horizon lets you know you 0.6 miles into the run and at the most intimidating rapid on the run. It is nearly impossible to boat scout as the drop is too steep to spot the clear lines. Scouting on the left took some effort but was possible. We found to lines, both on the left channel. On on the left shore (didn't see myself) and the other on the right shore. The line we all took was along the right shore, dropping over a ledge and moving left to avoid the rocks below, this was followed by some holes in the run-out. Good fun and a lot easier then we anticipated the "hard one" to be.
From there, there was some fun class III+/IV- boogie water which we thought was great quality.
- Epic Hole (II+). The river appears to go over a river wide ledge hole, instead it turned out to be a river wide playhole with eddy service on the left side. No guarantees that it wont be sticky at a couple thousand csf, but at 1600 it was great.
Goods (IV). A long rapid with a few nice boofs in it before the river constricts around a rock and drops into a small chute on the right shore (don't know what is on the left side). The hole at the bottom wasn't bad, one of the better rapids.
More fun stuff that I don't remember the details of.
- Split (IV). Somewhere in there the river split amongst the bush, we worked our way to the left channel to a two tiered drop. The first tier could be run through easier water on the right, or down the gut using a flake on the left shore for a classic boof, I wished I had spotted it on my way down. The river then calms for 20 feet before dropping over another ledge which we ran down the gut followed by some nice holes.
More fun stuff that I don't remember the details of.
- Finale (III+). When the bridge comes into sight you are at the last rapid. From below at the bridge this rapid looks like easy class II, once you are in it though the waves and holes become much bigger, it actually turns out to be one of the more fun rapids on the run... you won't believe me when you first see it.
Take out: To get to take-out, take Big Bend Rd off of Highway 299 (about 4 miles after the town of Montgomery Creek) and head north. Follow for 15 miles or so to the town of Big Bend. Smack in the middle of town is a bridge over the river that would be your take out.
Put-in: Head back to Big Bend Rd and continue north, after a mile or so you enter the town of Big Bend. Before you get the bridge take a right on Hagen Flat Rd and continue up the occasionally paved road the 3 or 4 miles to the dam. There is parking on the far side of it. Put in just below the dam.
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